John Elway sent a message with his 2018 draft class

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — John Elway’s not messing around.

Coming off the Denver Broncos’ worst season under his supervision and worst two-year stretch in his tenure, No. 7 has taken a different approach this offseason: No one is safe.

While draft picks during the Elway era used to be the safest people in town, Elway’s flipped that narrative upside down over the last 12 months.

In fact, even more recently the boss put his own 2017 draft class on notice with his most recent 2018 draft class.

Outside of the team’s first pick in 2017 — left tackle Garett Bolles — and their last pick — quarterback Chad Kelly — all of the other picks in 2017 were sent a clear message with the new 2018 class.

2017 pick: WR Carlos Henderson, third round & WR Isaiah McKenzie, fifth round

2018 response: WR Courtland Sutton, second round & WR DaeSean Hamilton, fourth round

Between Henderson and McKenzie, the two had a total of four receptions for 29 yards in 2017. After making a significant investment to find their third receiver in the 2017 draft, the team came up dry after Henderson went on the injured reserve for the entire season and McKenzie never found a consistent role on the offense.

Elway responded in 2018, using a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick to try to solidify the position for the present and the future.

In 2018, the Broncos will have plenty of young talent battling it out not only for the third receiver position, but potentially for roster spots.

2017 pick: CB Brendan Langley, third round

2018 response: CB Isaac Yiadom, third round

Not only did the Broncos use a third-round pick on a cornerback for a second-straight year, they drafted a similar type of player — a corner with good size and potential that can play in the slot as well as develop on the outside.

2017 pick: TE Jake Butt, fifth round

2018 response: TE Troy Fumagalli, fifth round

Of all of these, the Fumagalli selection had the least to do with Butt and more to do about the entire position group on the roster. Last year, the Broncos knew Butt was going to require a significant amount of rehab on his torn ACL, potentially having to miss the entire season. That’s exactly what happened.

The team is still incredibly high on his potential, but the rest of the tight ends on the roster have a total of 12 career starts — eight for Jeff Heuerman, one for Matt Lacosse and three for Austin Traylor.

2017 pick: RB De’Angelo Henderson, sixth round

2018 response: RB Royce Freeman, third round & RB David Williams, seventh round

Last year, De’Angelo was caught in the numbers game as head coach Vance Joseph consistently said there just weren’t enough gameday roster spots for him to get on the field behind C.J. Anderson, Devontae Booker and Jamaal Charles.

After cutting Anderson less than two weeks before the draft, it looked as if Henderson was going to get his opportunity to shine in 2018. That was until the draft when Denver not only selected two running backs, but also signed Phillip Lindsay — a player who profiles similar to Henderson — as an undrafted free agent.

2017 pick: DE/OLB DeMarcus Walker, second round

2018 response: DE/OLB Bradley Chubb, first round

One year after being bounced from defensive end to outside linebacker and back to defensive end, the Broncos not only drafted a player that profiles similar to Walker — 6-foot-4, 280-pound frame for Walker compared to a 6-foot-4, 269 pound frame for Chubb — they used a top-five pick to do so.

While Walker’s lack of production — one sack in 10 games with zero starts — wasn’t entirely his fault, considering he never got to settle into one position, it only took Elway one year to make a bigger investment in a similar style of pass rusher.

It is fair to note in 2018 they will be playing different positions, at least as of now. Walker will be a defensive end and Chubb will be a standup outside linebacker.

Now, of course, there are other factors that went into all of the 2018 picks and it’s not just a 100 percent reflection on the picks the year before. However, if the 2017 picks had panned out as John Elway and his staff hoped, there wouldn’t have been as much of a need going into the draft this year.

At the end of April, Elway gave an honest assessment of his 2017 draft class through his actions in the 2018 draft.