John Elway is determined to prove he has no soul
“Elway’s actions as a GM, especially in the wake of Denver’s 2014 Super Bowl loss, sometimes have gone beyond calculating to cold.”
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From the day he was drafted in 1983 until his retirement, John Elway the quarterback was the face of the Denver Broncos. After he took his final victory lap around Mile High and trotted off into the sunset with two Lombardi trophies in tow Elway became the face of car dealerships, instead, and Mike Shanahan’s leathery visage came to represent the Denver franchise. Then Shanny got fired and the Broncos became faceless for the first time since 1983.
Denver’s facelessness was cured when the mighty Elway was called back to lead the franchise from the front office – as the Vice President of Football Operations. He removed young Josh McDaniels who in the course of just three seasons became the most vilified figure in Denver sports history and set out to re-brand the Broncos in his image. Since that time the Broncos have, for better or worse, been part of the NFL playoffs in each and every season.
There’s no debating Elway’s efficacy as a leader. Once he returned to the Broncos he brought with him respectability and placed the team among the top in the AFC. He lured Peyton Manning to Denver, replaced almost the entire coaching staff and restored a winning culture. The Broncos came dangerously close to irrelevancy but turned things around almost instantly with old number seven at the helm.
It’s no surprise that in the minds of most fans Elway can do no wrong. He has shown a willingness and an ability to bring top tier free agents to Denver with the promise that there are championships to be won here. At the same time Elway has begun to show a dark side – a heartlessness that seems to indicate he has no soul. Elway’s actions as a GM, especially in the wake of Denver’s 2014 Super Bowl loss, sometimes have gone beyond calculating to cold.
Champ Bailey left it all of the field for the Broncos year after year for nearly a decade as one of the premier shut-down corners in the NFL. But, after a spotty 2013 campaign during which the veteran was plagued by injury, Bailey was simply cut. He was not offered an opportunity to renegotiate his contract – to play for any amount of money at all. He was just sent packing. And, while the fact that Champ has still not been signed by any other team would seem to indicate that Elway’s timing in letting Champ go was probably good, it still seems off that one of the most beloved players on the roster was shipped out so easily.
Knowshon Moreno was the undisputed emotional leader of the Denver Broncos offense last season. His break-out year was long overdue and he made the most of it, rising from third on the Denver running back depth chart to the starting role. It was a role he made the most of rushing for over 1,000 yards and ten touchdowns. Moreno had been the ultimate team player from the time he was drafted in 2009. He battled through painful injuries and accepted every demotion with grace and class until it was finally his time to shine. In 2013 he was arguably Denver’s grittiest performer; but still he was allowed to simply walk away. Like Bailey, Moreno was not even offered a contract by the Broncos. He ended up signing a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins for a paltry $3M – a sum the Broncos could have afforded, even having spent a fortune on free agents.
John Elway must be determined to find success with a running back he drafted rather than one that came with the team he took over. What other explanation could there be for Elway letting Moreno walk away without at least putting up a fight? Knowshon Moreno was a carry-over from the Josh McDaniels era so his fantastic 2013 season didn’t reflect positively on Elway’s prowess as a talent evaluator. That is the only conceivable reason that Moreno is now gone.
Everyone associated with the Denver Broncos was severely disappointed with the outcome of the Super Bowl. It was the most lopsided championship game since the 1980’s when, as fate would have it, John Elway was the quarterback of Denver’s losing Super Bowl teams. It’s natural that the team would make some rapid adjustments to be better positioned for the next season. Still, it seems strange that the Broncos would make no effort to retain Moreno and Bailey and also Shaun Phillips, another big time contributor, at any price.
It seems that John Elway equates being a successful as an NFL general manager with being unsentimental to the point of heartlessness. He is all-in with Peyton Manning and he knows that the team has a very small window in which to win it all before entering the unknown at the quarterback position. It’s doubtful, though, that the approach he is taking is going to work out in the long run. The model he is following is that of Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, one of the most hated teams in all of pro sports. It’s not the Denver way.
Although Janet may tell you it’s the El-way.
