Thirteen years after winning back-to-back Super Bowls as a quarterback, John Elway returned to the Denver Broncos in 2011 as an executive.
Elway quickly became the team’s general manager and after signing Peyton Manning in 2012, Elway later assembled a dream team of free agents that included DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward, Wes Welker and Emmanuel Sanders.
Manning led the team to four straight division titles and the Broncos reached two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season. Elway had planned for the post-Manning era by drafting Brock Osweiler in 2012, but the team wasn’t able to re-sign Osweiler when his rookie contract expired.
Elway attempted to draft a quarterback again in 2016, using a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch, who flopped. Two years later, the Broncos held the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft and Elway picked pass rusher Bradley Chubb over quarterback Josh Allen.
During a recent interview on the “Parton My Take” podcast by Barstool Sports, Elway admitted that passing on Allen was likely the biggest mistake he made during his time building Denver’s roster.
“I loved him,” Elway told PMT. “But it just didn’t work out. He was my type. That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days, was not taking Josh.”
The Buffalo Bills picked Allen seventh overall and Buffalo has gone 63-30 with Allen under center. Elway tried again in 2019, using a second-round pick on Drew Lock, but Lock was shipped out by new management three years later.
Elway stepped down from day-to-day GM duties following the 2020 season but remained president of football operations. The Broncos hired George Paton as their new GM in 2021 and Elway’s contract expired after that season. Elway served as a consultant in 2022, but that role was not renewed in 2023. Though he won a Super Bowl as a GM, Elway’s legacy as an executive was damaged by his failure to find a Manning replacement.
Denver went 32-48 in Elway’s final five seasons running the team, and the club has started 13 different quarterbacks since Manning’s retirement.
Paton and coach Sean Payton aimed to right the ship by using a first-round pick to select quarterback Bo Nix this spring. Following the failures of Osweiler, Lynch and Lock, Nix will aim to become the team’s first franchise quarterback since Manning. He might never reach the level of Josh Allen, but Nix can help Broncos fans forget the QB struggles of the post-Manning era.
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