Football runs in the Elliss family
The Denver Broncos used their third-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft on Friday night to select Utah pass rusher Jonah Elliss.
“Honestly my heart dropped,” Elliss said during a call with reporters when asked what it was like to get ‘the call’ from the Broncos on draft day. “Holy, it’s so exciting, I have a big smile on my face. I’m so excited.”
Elliss is already familiar with the organization. His dad, Luther, was a defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions from 1995-2003 before playing the final year of his career with the Broncos in 2004. The elder Elliss totaled two sacks as a rotational player in Denver and 29 sacks in his career.
“He’s in the other room right now,” Jonah said of his dad. “He just told me how great of a culture, how great of a fanbase and how it was really a family vibe out there. Honestly the culture is something that he mentioned a lot and how it’s a really good bond out there.”
Eleven years after hanging up his cleats, Luther returned to the Broncos under then-coach Gary Kubiak to serve as the team’s chaplain in 2015. Denver went on to win the Super Bowl that season.
“[I haven’t seen] too many of his highlights, but I do remember when we moved out to Colorado,” Jonah said. “I spent a year there. It was really awesome just to see my dad start to get back into football. Even though he was just the chaplain at the time, you could see that his love for the sport really just lights him up and gets him excited to go to work and stuff. So it was awesome seeing him do that, and I’m really excited to come down where he was.”
The family’s NFL connections don’t stop there. All three of Jonah’s older brothers — Kaden (Atlanta Falcons), Christian (New England Patriots) and Noah (Philadelphia Eagles) — play in the NFL.
Kaden was drafted by then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton in 2019.
“Look, obviously a little bit of a coincidence,” Payton said of the Elliss family’s connection to the Broncos and Payton. “I think the irony though a little bit though was you wait, like always, you’re waiting for the teams to get through. The team before us is Atlanta, and then I’m reminded that Kaden is with Atlanta now. I’m like, ‘Oh no.’ [Falcons GM] Terry [Fontenot] was with us [in New Orleans]. Kaden is there; they needed an edge.
“Then I’m like, ‘Maybe Kaden and Jonah didn’t get along?’ So we were sweating that pick out, and then they ended up taking a different outside linebacker. I got a text two seconds later from Kaden. They are two different types of players, obviously, Kaden is playing more inside, and we got more of a pressure player here with this player.”
He’s not a replica of his father or his brothers, but Jonah has an impressive family tradition to continue in the NFL.
“It’s awesome,” Jonah said of playing for the coach who also drafted his brother. “Kaden told me how much he loved Coach, so I’m just really excited to get out there and work for him because my brother had such good things to say about him.”
Jonah is set to report to the team’s rookie minicamp next week. He’ll make his Broncos debut during preseason this summer.
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