A peek inside the mind of John Elway as the first round of the draft unfolded

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In front of a packed media room at the UCHealth Training Center one week before the draft, John Elway stood at the podium at his annual pre-draft press conference and vowed he and his staff weren’t going to be blindsided by a single thing in the first round of the draft.

“We’ve got to go through every different scenario,” Elway said with his shoulders back and chest puffed out, referring to going over every possible outcome that could take place in the first four picks before the Denver Broncos No. 5 overall selection.

Almost exactly one week later, the unthinkable happened: The team did a total of zero mock drafts of how the four picks before them eventually fell.

Fortunately, the blindside was almost a dream come true.

The day started out when the Cleveland Browns threw a wrench in the 31 other teams game plans when news surfaced they were likely going to select quarterback Baker Mayfield instead of the quarterback nearly everyone else on the planet expected them to take, Sam Darnold.

But for Denver, it wasn’t Mayfield’s name that gave them hope.

It was the possibility the No. 1 defensive player on their board could potentially fall to them — something they never saw in their wildest dreams.

“We didn’t think he was going to be there,” Elway opened up, happily admitting their preparation didn’t lead them to this outcome. “Then we started to hear some rumors today that he might be there, so we waited to see what was going to happen. When he did make it to us, we were thrilled.”

With Mayfield, Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold off the board, and only one pick left before Denver’s selection, every so-called “expert” and team had the Browns choosing Denver’s dream defensive man.

It was all but expected inside the Broncos headquarters that the best pass rusher in the draft would be off the board after Cleveland turned in their card, so much, so Denver had a trade in place to move back with the Buffalo Bills.

But then the Browns shocked the world—just as they did half an hour before by selecting Mayfield. The pick came down the wire: Cornerback Denzel Ward.

Inside the Broncos’ war room, jubilation followed the instant moment of shock and utter disbelief. Although they never went over this scenario in their preparation, no time was needed for them to turn in their draft card.

The name read: Bradley Chubb, defensive end, North Carolina State.

“We didn’t trade because Bradley was there. We did have some options, but we thought with Bradley falling to us, that was our best option,” Elway said with a wide smile. “We thought that he was one of the best defensive players in the draft, if not the best defensive player in the draft. He really was the best pass rusher in our opinion. We really didn’t want to pass on him, so we didn’t.”

If, however, Cleveland did what most thought they were going to and selected the talented pass rusher from the east coast, Denver would have “most likely” packed their bags at No. 5 and traded back.

“We had a lot of phone calls on the pick. We had some nice options there,” Elway said in regards to the options the team had to trade back. “We just felt with Bradley falling to us we couldn’t pass it. We felt like we had him, we had to take him.”

Before there were rumors of the team moving back, there were reports of them moving up, potentially all the way to No. 2. However, with Chubb in his pocket after the first round, Elway dismissed these reports by saying he didn’t talk to the Giants’ general manager Dave Gettleman on Thursday.

As for if the team considered trading back into the first round for a player they had their eyes on? The answer was simple: “No.”

“We feel like, with the picks that we have [on Day Two], we feel good,” the GM stated. “With the three picks we have tomorrow and then two in the fourth and two in the fifth.”

With three picks on the docket, Elway’s taking different mental approach to the rest of the draft.

“Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow?”