The selection of Bradley Chubb highlighted the single best thing about the Broncos' organization

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With the fifth-overall pick, the Denver Broncos selected a man known as “Astronaut.”

Their pass rush is now officially out of this world.

The nickname—which also serves as Bradley Chubb’s twitter handle, and was featured in his draft-day suit—is a reference to the rapper Future, originated by Chubb’s brother, Brandon.

It’s funny, though, because this pick has nothing to do with the future, it’s all about the present.

What a time to be alive.

We should have known. To draft a quarterback would have hinted towards that dreaded R-word that John Elway refuses to utter. Elway always says he wants to “win from now on,” this move suggests that the man in charge is going to worry about the “now” right now and worry about the “on” later on.

The Broncos had their pick of Josh Allen or Josh Rosen, but they had no plans of joshing around. Elway wasn’t concerned about the two-year nature of Case Keenum’s contract and the weakness of next year’s draft class at quarterback; he’s betting the future on the present.

You gotta respect it.

The Broncos defense is already built to win now, which made it unsurprising to see the reaction of players like Von Miller and Chris Harris Jr. You could imagine the reaction of Elway and Joseph was similar, considering they had “zero” mocks in which Bradley Chubb fell to them.

“We’re trying to win now, we don’t have time to wait,” Harris said earlier this week.

Now they really don’t.

Drafting a quarterback would have given the fanbase something to hang their hat on if things didn’t go according to plan this year. It would have given the team a place to quietly point towards where better times would wait. It may have even given Vance Joseph a golden goose to hold on to.

It wasn’t to be.

“Obviously we did a lot of work on them,” Elway said of the quarterbacks. “When it was all said and done, and we looked at all the different options and all the different scenarios, we felt pretty comfortable with where we are with Case and Paxton… We looked at it and delved into it and the way everything fell, Bradley was the best pick for us.”

He may not be wrong.

One team source told BSN Denver the move was a best-case scenario “without any question.”

But now the pressure is on. On Elway. On Joseph. On Joe Woods. On Miller. On Chubb. On everyone.

And that’s the way it should be, the way you should want it.

You’ve heard of “The Patriot Way,” this is “The Bronco Way.” Never use the future as a crutch. Reload, don’t rebuild. Always in drive, never in reverse.

No matter how bad you wanted a quarterback, this move highlighted the single best attribute about the Denver Broncos franchise. There’s never any question about what the goal is around here.

The last time the Broncos accomplished that goal, they danced on the field on a February night in Santa Clara singing, “I got a really big team, and they need some really big rings,” with championship hats and shirts draped all over them.

The artists on that song? Drake… and Future.

3, 2, 1, liftoff.