Why isn't John Elway on the hot seat?

[Steelersfan43]

14 minutes ago, Elky said:

Patrick Mahomes showed a lot of promise in his first start against Denver. Drew Lock did not look like a functional quarterback at all.

What about Brett Favre? ... He was like 0-5,2 INT (first pass was a pick 6) in the first year with the Falcons ... Ron Wolf was quite dumb to waste a first round draft pick to a player who could not read a defense to save his life!...Aaron Rodgers was also not very good in his first 2 years in the preseason.

I mean, we can't judge a player for only 15 minutes at his first preseason game of his career!

[PFM18]

As @TakeTheBallDeep has already mentioned in this thread, Elway is not exactly untouchable in Denver or with Broncos fans right now. 

Many Broncos fans have been extremely critical of Elway's job, especially when it comes to his record of looking for a QB. He's certainly had his fair share of busts.

But this offseason might have seen him making the moves to correct that.

Firstly he traded a 4th round pick for Joe Flacco. Now some would argue Flacco is done, wasn't that good anyway and lost his job to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.

The last point is true, but to call Joe Flacco done isn't fair to a QB who has performed more than respectably in the league, won a SB and was considered the Ravens starter until midway through last season.

I believe Flacco has a point to prove, that he can still play in this league and is still good enough to be a starting QB, so believe the 4th rounder Elway spent to get him was a good deal, but time will tell.

Next he drafted Drew Lock, and already after the HOF Game people are labeling him a bust. 

Think it's only fair to give him at least a couple of seasons to allow him to learn and play in the actual league to decide if he can actually play or not.

Back to Elway, as many have mentioned he has won a Super Bowl in his tenure, but then that's tossed aside as a throwaway thing.

Winning a SB isn't easy despite how Brady and Belechick make it look. Many top ranked GM's currently in the league have yet to build a team to do it, and Elway is one of the few that can say he has. 

He deserves criticism for the mistakes he's made, but you also have to credit him for the success he's achieved. 

As mentioned Elway's seat is fairly warm and will inevitably get hotter if there's no signs of progress this season despite his legendary status. That being said if we consider Elway's seat to be warm then logistically many other GM's seats should be at the same temperature or hotter for not achieving what Elway has. 

[thebestever6]

I just love how the narrative changed since I was little. It used to be that a "gm," wants to pick his own guy at qb. And we've seen that's not  necessarily the case Ballard inheriting Luck who is a very good gm especially with draft day trades.  And Joe Douglas with Sam Darnold, Jon Robinson who I think is an awesome gm didn't draft Mariota.

I think Elway is on thin ice and don't see him lasting past 2021 no matter what. I don't think he wants to do the job much longer anyway. Problem is do you trust Joe Ellis making the next hire at gm.

I don't think it's a coincidence Denvers only good draft since 2012 arguably has come when they coached the senior bowl.

[Art_Vandalay]

19 hours ago, TakeTheBallDeep said:

I live in Denver and trust me, Elway is on the hot seat with fans and local media

 

I live in Denver and agree with this. I think he'll be on the hot seat after the 2020 season if they still can't find a QB though.

[BayRaider]

22 hours ago, wackywabbit said:

Forgot to lol at this

Why? Drew Lock is atrocious. He has the worst footwork of any QB Prospect I have literally ever seen, which rarely improves much at the next level. His accuracy is college was awful, and his decision making against Top 10 teams was mind blowing levels of bad. 

I mean, that rocket arm is sexy I guess... at least he has that going for him right?

[blizofoz45]

I've never been a fan of Elway off the field.  He's not Roethlisberger dumb but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed either.  

Saw a funny video about the guy who makes the busts for players going into the HOF.  He said Elway got mad at him and accused him of making his teeth too big.  So the bust that actually made it to the Hall was modified to placate Elway's ego.

[Nabbs4u]

41 minutes ago, blizofoz45 said:

Saw a funny video about the guy who makes the busts for players going into the HOF.  He said Elway got mad at him and accused him of making his teeth too big.  So the bust that actually made it to the Hall was modified to placate Elway's ego.

Can you blame him? 50 years from now when he nothing but a footnote in NFL history and people see his Bust in Canton and read his legacy. You think he wants their first thought of John Elway to be: Damn he looks like Mr. Ed? 

I don't blame him one bit. 😎🍺

Edited August 4, 2019 by Nabbs4u

[Superman(DH23)]

4 hours ago, ET80 said:

He's a legend in Denver, that's why. The franchise would move to another city before they forcibly remove him from that role (and they're not going anywhere, so that narrows down the options). He's been a part of all three SBs, so he's got a lifetime pass for the job.

People dont understand, Pat Bowlen stood on that podium hoisting the Lombardi and said "this one's for John."

John then stood on that same podium 18 years later and said "this one's for Pat."

As long as a Bowlen owns the Broncos, John Elway is untouchable.  The only way Elway stops being the GM is if he decides to stop being GM.  

[AkronsWitness]

On 8/2/2019 at 10:37 PM, SilverNBlackFan said:

Because Peyton Manning basically signed him. 

Lower tier GM

Did Peyton Manning build one of the greatest defenses in NFL history that won a SuperBowl?

[wackywabbit]

22 hours ago, BayRaider said:

Why? Drew Lock is atrocious. He has the worst footwork of any QB Prospect I have literally ever seen, which rarely improves much at the next level. His accuracy is college was awful, and his decision making against Top 10 teams was mind blowing levels of bad. 

I mean, that rocket arm is sexy I guess... at least he has that going for him right?

He may very well be a flop but the quote was "looks to be on the same trajectory". That implies that what has happened in the early part of training camp + 1 preseason game has significant charting value for a rookie's career progression. 

[megatechpc]

2015 SB Champs.  That's why.  Being the architect of a team that wins it all buys you a little bit of leeway, as it should.

[BroncoSojia]

Elway has made a ALOT of mistakes, from the bad draft classes, to the horrible coaching hires and QB decisions, (Flacco included) but I've Iiked some of the decisions he's made over the past 2 years. The 2018 draft class looks promising, even though I would've prefer us drafting a QB in the first. I think Vic Fangio was a good hire and I like the offensive coordinator we hired from San Fran. I also liked our first 4 picks in this year's draft.

That being said, one of my main problems with Elway is that he doesn't seem willing to rebuild. He trades for Flacco and claims that "he's just entering his prime", then he goes and sign a bunch of players in FA. Obviously, he expects us to compete this year, but I just don't think we have the talent for that. Can I also make mention of the fact that he signed a player (Kareem Jackson)  to a deal much bigger than the one a player at the same position on our team (CHJ) has despite the fact that CHJ is much better and YOUNGER. This caused an issue and had to be rectified by giving CHJ a big bump in salary. (He's also on a one year deal and the raise included a no trade or franchise tag clause) I just don't know how the FO didn't see this issue coming.

Imagine if we didn't pick Lock (or any QB) this year, which was a real possibility. We would've been stuck with Flacco as a treadmill team, basically not bad enough to be high in the draft to get a great player (franchise QB), but not good enough to be a contender, which is a terrible place for any North American professional sports team to be. People can quibble about Lock's first pre-season game and what that means for his career, but it's just nice to have a young QB with some potential.

So bottomline, I'm still close to wanting him gone, but admittedly he has made better decisions in regards to drafting and coaching hires recently. 

 

One more thing, I wish he'd stop doing things like this:

 

[childofpudding]

He deserves criticism but he just won a SB a few years ago. Also, I was previously really critical of his draft decisions but their draft last year was great and that probably has bought him some extra time.

[ILoveTheVikings]

He's won Superbowls as a player and as a GM for the Broncos...He deserves to have the "I have this job until I decide to retire" type of security.

 

 

[Bolts223]

On 8/2/2019 at 5:20 PM, Steelersfan43 said:

Hard to fire someone who was a legend for your team, even if it was as player

Also, the fact that John Elway won a super bowl as GM (it was because of the defense that Elway built, not Peyton Manning in 2015) helped him to have a good job security.

But this year is an important year for him ... The Broncos have to show some improvement this year otherwise he will have to leave soon.

I mean to be completely fair it was a defense that was built by a lot of FA who were lured to Denver BECAUSE of Peyton Manning.