Rebuild?
In the Elway-Webster Dictionary, no such word exists.
In all actuality, John Elway refuses to say the word as if it’s non-existent. As if even the mention of the word coming out of his mouth would plague the organization and send them into a spiraling, well, rebuild.
While some believe that’s just what the Denver Broncos need coming off a 5-11 season—the worst in the Elway Era—that’s just not the Elway way.
Just a month into the start of the 2018 league year, Elway himself has made that crystal clear with his words—or lack of a single word—and more importantly his actions. In fact, the Broncos aren’t just avoiding a rebuild; they’re all in for 2018.
Elway’s win-now plan became strikingly evident just hours into the unofficial start of free agency with the signing of Case Keenum.
At 30-years old, coming off by far the best season of his career, signing the Texas gunslinger was one of the most, if not the most, win-now moves any team could have made this offseason. While Denver could very well still draft a quarterback at No. 5 overall in the draft just days away, the signing of Keenum prevents any whispers of a rebuild taking place if they do so.
Keenum was just the beginning, however. Nearly every other move Elway and Co. made throughout free agency, up until this point, was to win this year.
Although the next three acquisitions—signing cornerback Tramaine Brock and defensive end Clinton McDonald and trading for tackle Jared Veldheer—didn’t necessarily jump off the page as splash signings, they all improved the Broncos for this upcoming year, and potentially this upcoming year alone.
For the most part, these four players, including Keenum, don’t have a wealth of untapped potential that the team is waiting for to sprout and develop into good players in the future. No, these are all proven players on the edge of their prime.
Even all four of their contracts would point to the fact Elway is going all in on 2018. Two of the players brought in this offseason, Brock and Veldheer, only have one-year deals in Denver, while the other two, Keenum and McDonald, only have two-year deals.
On top of that, McDonald only has guaranteed money in the first year, making it no sweat for the Broncos to move on from him before his second year. In terms of Case’s contract, if Denver wanted to move on from him after this year, he would have $10 million in dead cap in 2019, which isn’t completely unbearable in today’s $28 million quarterback market.
What Elway did this offseason was get players that would help the team win immediately, while also making it very easy to move on from them in the future.
Even the re-signing of linebacker Todd Davis was for this year. If the team had let Davis walk, their best option for replacing him would have come in the draft. Although there can be excellent rookies, counting on a rookie to start in the middle of a defense isn’t along the win-now plan.
The final piece to the offseason that made Elway’s plan crystal clear was restructuring Von Miller’s contract to open up over $12 million in cap space this year.
This was the ultimate win-now move because not only did it allow them to trade for Veldheer—who will make nearly $7 million this year while plugging a significant hole for the team at right tackle—and upgrade their punter—signing Marquette King and trading former punter Riley Dixon cost the team over $1.5 million this year—it increased Miller’s cap hits in the coming years.
With this move, Elway put 2018 ahead of the future in terms of giving the team the best chance to compete.
Say what you will about Elway and the moves he’s made this offseason, but the one word you can’t—and he won’t—say is rebuild. In fact, in 2018 the Broncos are poised to try to do the opposite.
