Left tackle be dammed, Elway not wavering on draft approach

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Just as John Elway became better with age during his playing career, he’s become more sarcastic with age during his tenure as general manager. On Monday, Elway started his pre-draft press conference much like he’s done in year’s past, leading off with a sarcastic joke about how this will be the most productive press conference of the year.

If that wasn’t sarcastic enough, Elway later said the organization’s biggest need was to get a new general manager, the position which he holds — very comfortably, too.

While Elway’s sarcasm was a way to avoid giving away any pertinent information days leading up to the start of the draft on Thursday, the underlying philosophy of how he will approach the draft rang through loud and clear: the Broncos will draft the best player available (BPA).

Although left tackle is undoubtedly the biggest area of need for Denver, Elway emphasized that they won’t force an early-round pick if the right player isn’t available. When asked if there was a day-one starting let tackle in the draft, Elway paused and said, “Yeah, there could possibly be one.” Immediately after say that, he took a figurative step back.

“Depends. If that’s where we go, he’s going to come in and compete for a job,” Elway added.

While nearly everyone outside of the UCHealth Training Center doesn’t believe the Broncos have an adequate left tackle on the roster, Elway has more faith in the players currently under contract.

“Left tackles are not easy to find. We thought Ty [Sambrailo] is a guy that can compete there. [Donald] Stephenson’s played a little left [tackle], Menelik [Watson’s] played a little left, so we’re not without there,” he said. “It may not be ideal, but you never know. The way Ty was playing a couple years ago we feel like he was going to be a very legitimate left tackle until he got hurt.”

In a draft that has been widely classified as weak for offensive lineman, it is very possible that the best player available at Denver’s No. 20 overall pick in the first round will not be an offensive lineman. A player that could very well fit the BPA description is Colorado native Christian McCaffrey. On April 13, the Broncos hosted McCaffrey for an official pre-draft visit.

“We like Christian a lot, so we want to bring him in. It was one of those where he was in the area, and we wanted to take advantage of that and see him again. He’s a great kid,” Elway said on why they invited McCaffrey to the UCHealth Training Center. “Our concern is if he can play football, that’s our concern. And that he can do.”

Even though there may not be a bigger, and better, storyline than McCaffrey returning home to play with the Broncos, there is a growing belief that McCaffrey will not be available by the time Denver’s pick rolls around. Elway didn’t rule out the possibility of moving up, or down, in the first round, but he did say that wouldn’t matriculate until draft day.

With plenty of non-answers given by Elway, one area where he gave clarity was his pledge to keep the defense great.

“I don’t want to go backwards on defense, and I’ve said that from the very get-go that we aren’t going to go back on defense,” Elway said. “It’s important for us to continue to stay good on defense and help the defense and if we have a great defensive player [on the board in the draft], we’ll go that direction. What we want to do is stay as good and get better defensively and continue to get better on the offensive side. If we do that, it makes us a better team.”

Nearly every year there seems to be at least one player in the first round that drops for various reasons. In 2014 and 2015, the Broncos capitalized on these slides, selecting Bradley Roby and Shane Ray in respective years. Elway is open to capitalizing on another player’s misfortunes if that were to happen again.

“If he falls to us, number one, is it someone that we want? And number two, why is he falling? If it’s something that we can put up with then we will discuss that,” he said. “That always happens to some players…a lot of times going into it you know who might fall.”

In an uncertain time just three days before the draft, one aspect of the Broncos that remains certain is their commitment to drafting the best player available. At least that’s what they are saying.