John Elway has been telling you who he was going to draft all offseason

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In his own words, Denver Broncos first-round pick Garett Bolles wants to be a “nasty prick” on the field.

When he said that at the NFL combine, we should have known right then and there that he would be a Bronco.

Remember John Elway’s famous “kicking and screaming” phrase? Well, in a much less publicized way, ol’ No. 7 has been pounding on a similar idea regarding his offensive line this season.

Examine:

March 10, Ronald Leary introduction: “We’re absolutely thrilled that we’ve got Ron here. He’s the type of player that we’re looking for with the mentality on the offensive line. He’s physical and tough and plays with the demeanor that makes us tough on the offensive line. That was one of our goals. We got that in Ronald. He’s a guy that is very talented, but also plays with that mentality we’re looking for.”

March 10, Menelik Watson introduction: “As you can tell, [he is] a very big and physical player that will bring [a tough] mentality… We’re convinced of that. I really think he’s going to add a lot to the room and leadership and also the mentality.”

March 13, Free Agency Update: “We’re excited about [the additions]. It’s been a focus for us, the offense and defensive line, getting more physical on both sides of the ball. We feel like we’ve done that. It’s been a good start.”

If you’re pattern recognition is up to par (that’s a big part of the Wonderlic test), you’ll notice the theme—mentality. He won’t say it outright, but John Elway has been hinting all offseason that he thought the offensive line was soft last year.

It was.

John Elway can tolerate certain things within his football team, softness is not one of them. So when the Broncos went to free agency, they added nastiness, and when they came into the draft with a need at left tackle, they targeted nastiness.

“The way he played the game, the mentality that he brings to the game—he was, in our mind, the best left tackle in the draft,” Elway said on Thursday night.

Was Bolles age a concern? “No.”

How about his troubled youth? “Not a concern, either.”

The Broncos and John Elway wanted a guy who said things like this.

“When I’m on the field, I want to put people in the dirt, that’s what I’m here for…. Whoever’s in front of me, I want to drive them and put them in the dirt. So I’m just going to try to be that every single day.”

They found that guy in Garett Bolles, and they made him their top target, Elway even telling Bolles last week that he would see him on draft day.

“He’s a man of his word,” Bolles said.

The Broncos got a guy in which they’ve already had to talk about personal fouls with; they got a guy who has lived on the streets, they got a guy who is going to being that buzzword Elway has been pushing into our brains all offseason.

“I will tell you this,” Elway said. “One of the key things was to not only get that kind of athlete with that size, but also the mentality that he’s going to bring, I think he brings a great mentality to that offensive line. He’s a perfect fit for what we’ve done in free agency, what we brought in, and now we have a guy like Garett. If Garett turns out to be what we think he is, he solves a big problem for us for a long time.”

Garett Bolles was the “perfect fit,” it was right in front of us all along.