ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Up until recently, John Elway was criticized for very few things in the Mile High City.
One thing he has been criticized for—and potentially the most common—was his loyalty, to a fault as his critics would say, to his draft picks. Nearly a year into the job, it appears he’s passed this along to his new head coach, Vance Joseph.
Just take a look at Joseph’s first draft class. Two weeks ago in the Week 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts, only one player from the 2017 draft class was active. One. There were eight selections by the team.
Yet, despite only a 12.5 percent active rate with only three weeks left into the season, not a single draft pick has been cut. Joseph and Elway kept every single pick despite only getting regular contributions from their first-round pick, Garett Bolles.
Sure, three—Carlos Henderson, Jake Butt and Chad Kelly—have been on the injured reserve the entire season, not allowing them to be available to play, but that still leaves four other picks that have a combined zero starts, including a second and third-round pick.
However, look no further than the team’s second, fifth-round pick, Isaiah McKenzie, to find that Joseph has absolutely adopted Elway’s protective nature—in the form of loyalty—to the younglings.
“He’s had trouble catching the ball and taking care of the football. I thought, personally, two weeks would help him overcome that. That wasn’t so. He needs more time. I’m not giving up on Isaiah,” Joseph said, following the team’s 35-9 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 4 in which McKenzie re-gained the punt return responsibilities only to fumble in the game and cause a safety. “I’m not down on him, but he’s a young player.”
Entering this game, McKenzie had a league-high five fumbles, yet still got another opportunity from Joseph while the team was technically still in the playoff chase.
Then, after sitting him for the team’s next two games, McKenzie got another chance on Sunday against the Washington Redskins. Not only did he receive another chance, it was in a bigger role as a wide receiver. After making an “unacceptable” play to end the half—in which the 5-foot-7 speedster cost the team three points by trying to make a play instead of running out of bounds—Joseph was undoubtedly hard on the rookie.
Still, though, Joseph didn’t waiver in his stance on sticking by McKenzie’s side.
“He’s a young player. He’s had some issues playing. He’s not the first rookie to have issues. We obviously have to coach him better and help him through those things,” Joseph stated on Tuesday. “As a talent, he’s what we want. He’s a young talent and he needs time to work through his issues on the field.”
In life, and certainly in the NFL, time is a valuable, and precious, thing. When it comes to Elway, and now Joseph’s, draft picks, it seems almost certain that every draft pick will be afforded plenty of time with the organization regardless of what they do. McKenzie is the shining example.
As Joseph told media on Thursday, if injuries to Cody Latimer and Emmanuel Sanders don’t improve by Sunday, McKenzie will be active as a wide receiver once again.
