John Elway explains Broncos' tough roster decisions

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Paring an NFL roster from 90 to 53 is a mammoth task. Every year, teams are forced to part ways with legitimate NFL-caliber players. This time around, the Broncos parted ways with last season’s leading rusher, a six-year starter and the Vegas favorite to in their starting quarterback job among many others.

On Saturday, just minutes after the team officially cut their roster down, general manager John Elway addressed the media to talk about the tough decisions, starting with the team releasing 2012 third-round draft pick Ronnie Hillman.

“At running back, obviously Ronnie was a guy that did a lot of good things for us,” he said. “We just thought that with Kapri [Bibbs] we were probably in better shape with what he can do on special teams. It’s always tough. They’re all close. That one was really close. Kapri has worked very hard and deserved a shot. We’re going to give Kapri that shot.”

Bibbs, undrafted out of Colorado State, did enough in the preseason finale in which he was featured to not only make the team but to have the Broncos comfortable with him being one of just three running backs on the roster.

Also in the offensive backfield, the Broncos made the call to send Mark Sanchez packing. A move that many wouldn’t have believed would happen had you told them this a couple of months ago.

“There were a lot of options and a lot of different things going on,” Elway explained. “I will tell you this. I had a long talk with Mark today. He handled it with great class. I know he was disappointed. He wanted to stay here. We just thought that where we are [that] it was probably best for us to go in different ways at this point in time. Mark was great. You know what? He handled everything great. It was a tough situation to walk into. Any time you walk into a Super Bowl team, the quarterback is going to be a big part of it, especially when you follow a guy who retired, like [QB] Peyton [Manning] retired last year. It’s always a tough spot. There was a lot of focus on him. I thought he handled it well. It’s just unfortunate he didn’t win that job.”

Neither of those moves, though, brought about the negative response that the decision to part ways with punter Britton Colquitt. A move that was only magnified by a less-than-inspiring performance from Colquitt’s replacement, Riley Dixon, on Thursday night. In the end, Elway explained that the future, not just the present, went into the decision,

“We like Riley’s upside. Obviously, Britton [Colquitt] did a great job for us and really kicked well at the end of last year, but we really like the upside that Riley has,” he explained. “A lot of times those are always tough spots because you know that anytime you have a veteran, and you go young, there’s always that consistency factor, and you’re sometimes going to take a step back before you take two ahead. That’s what we’re planning on, but we think that Riley can step in and be that guy.”

Elway also addressed the elephant in the room that was the Colquitt decision being financially focused.

“It’s about the money at times,” the general manager admitted. “But we never make a decision on money that hurts this football team. There are always things that go into that, but the number one thing is the ability at some point and time get better at the position. We feel like we have a chance and we have upside at the position as Riley gets more experience. That’s one when you go with the young guy; there’s going to be some growing pains. We’re willing to risk that with Riley.”

It’s a bold decision to bank on a rookie punter with a defensively focused team, it’s a bold decision to go into the season with two of your three running backs never having an NFL carry, it’s a bold decision to send your most experienced quarterback packing.

Fortune, as they say, favors the bold.