ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — John Elway will no longer be making day-to-day decisions as the Denver Broncos’ general manager. He will, however, still have input in the big decisions the organization makes.
The first task for Elway as he transitions out of the general manager position and solely into the president of football operations role will be to find his replacement at the position he is leaving.
Shortly after, Elway, Vic Fangio and the new general manager will be faced with many big decisions in the offseason.
Two of the biggest decisions Denver will have to make surround the futures of Von Miller and Drew Lock. On Monday, in a Zoom press conference to discuss his decision to take a step back in the day-to-day operations as the team’s general manager, Elway talked about the future of the young quarterback and star pass rusher—two of Elway’s most prominent draft picks in his 10 years in control of football operations.
“Yeah, I’ll be involved in that and we’ll see which direction,” Elway said on Monday, confirming he will be involved in deciding Von Miller’s future. “We’d love to have Von finish his career here. He’s been a great Bronco for a long, long time, and that will be one of the big decisions we have in the offseason.
Elway’s first draft pick ever, back in 2011, is under contract for the 2021 season. However, he’s coming off a year in which he missed the entire season due to an ankle injury he suffered days before the season started. Additionally, his $22.225 million cap hit in 2021 is set to be the biggest on the team.
If Denver decides to move on from the former No. 2-overall pick, they would save $18 million of cap space as Miller only has $4.225 million in dead cap. But moving on from the Broncos’ franchise leader in sacks is not the ideal plan in Elway’s eyes.
“The goal is to get Von back and have him end his career here,” Elway stated.
On the other side of the ball, Elway’s departure from having the final say on the roster raises questions for Lock’s future as the team’s quarterback. Elway has been one of Lock’s strongest advocates since drafting him in the second round in 2019.
“I still have high hopes for Drew,” Elway said on Monday about Lock’s future. “I think he, obviously, is a young quarterback that’s got potential and I think he’s got the potential to be a very, very good football quarterback in this league and play in this league and lead teams to victories. Obviously, he’s very young and you never know how that reaction and how that transition is going to go, but I thought that he showed a lot of good signs this year.”
In Lock’s first full season as the starter, although he missed nearly three games due to a bruised shoulder, the second-year quarterback threw for 2,933 yards on 57.3 percent completion, 16 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 75.4 passer rating.
“With young quarterbacks, you’re going to run into inconsistency problems, which Drew had this year, but I think when I look at Drew’s makeup and what he’s about, he wants to be great, he wants to learn, and he wants to get better,” Elway stated about his belief in the 24-year old. “I think that Drew has a chance to be a darn good football player in this league.”
While Lock ranked in the bottom of the league in nearly every passing category, he began to progress late in the season. In the final four games, Lock threw for 1,015 yards on 61 percent completion, seven touchdowns, two interceptions and a 92.1 passer rating.
“This offseason is going to help [Lock] tremendously,” Elway said with confidence. “Last year, you look at everything that went through as far as no offseason, a new offensive coordinator, which is the worst thing that could have happen for a really young quarterback and our young players. It was very unfortunate what happened, but it was tough on everybody, I realized that too. I think this offseason will be a chance for Drew to dig in and work hard, which I know he will, and see if he can make the necessary strides to be able to be that guy.”
On his final days as the Broncos’ general manager, John Elway endorsed two of Denver’s most important players going as the team goes into the offseason.
