John Elway doesn't impress me as a GM

[elway7]

Elway's going for it now and next season and I feel he's pulling a classic Parcells (or maybe a Prez Bush even, haha). He's already planning the timing of his departure (if need be) just before everything starts to falls apart. Of course he'll take full credit for the teams success, which anyone could do if they don't care about securing the teams financial future, as long as you don't totally screw the pooch with picks/FA, and start with Peyton (plz dont break your nec, plz) at the helm. Heck it's formula has been proven to work. It's short-attention span 20-20 hindsight soundbite hey look over there theatre around the world these days.

Either that or maybe he's so beloved out there, he thinks he'll be able to ride out a 3 years of going 5-11 and a media/fan rebuilding shizstorm as long as he gets one trophy on the mantle. Fans will be savvy enough to know know they went for it, and this is the cost... (oh but gawd help him in if this scenario if the mantle goes empty)

I'm betting on outcome 1. Teed off with some presser about some lame life choice excuse as to why he must leave the job sooner than expected and sadly unfinished. Then right back to football after taking a year or two off. Whatever is just enough time off to ensure the media and fans remember only the good times, but distant enough that he has nothing to fear from them making a connection, putting 2+2 together, and instead keep focus on bashing the failures of his successor.

Yep! Your a dumbass with no clue.

 

[runandgun]

Broncos fan here. I'll start by saying what Elway has done is amazing. Thanks to Pats fans here that have stated the original post is a bit absurd. I'm not sure if everyone remembers, but our team was in shambles after the McDaniels era and coming off of a 4-12 season. In hopes of re-energizing the team and the fanbase, our owner hires Denver legend John Elway to take over player personnel.

Signing Peyton Manning never happens without the influence of John Elway. I know Peyton isn't liked by some around here, but the signing was great for our franchise and has paid off.

Last season signing Wes, DRC, Knighton,and Sean Phillips all worked out well. DRC was great at $5mil and Knighton and Phillips at $1mil a piece was a steal.

For some reason everyone sees him signing big names and hears big contract numbers and think he's destroyed the salary cap to do it. For one, how many teams coming off an AFC Championship even have the cap room to sign those type of guys? People look at Talib's contract and say we over paid by a lot. If you look closer, he can be released for performance after this season. More than likely he's with us for 3 years and at an average of $9mil a season. Sam Shields is getting almost $10mil a season. I'm pretty sure I'd take Talib over Shields for around $1mil less. TJ Ward, one of the top safties in the league for $5.5mil??? Donte Whitner got $7mil...... DeMarcus Ware did get a big deal which is probably $20 mil over 2 years, but I wouldn't say that was throwing money at him. Greg Hardy made over $13mil last season. I'm sure Ware could've gotten more than $10mil.

The Pats have been champs at player acquisitions for years. No one can deny that. However, to say what Elway has isn't impressive is a bit absurd.

 

[50-yard-line]

I agree with runandgun. Elway rubs me the wrong way many times, but it's hard to deny that he's set the Broncos up for another deep run - and they're running out of time with Manning, that's clear.

He's thinking about the Patriots, sure, but he's also contending with an AFC west that show a couple of decent teams in the Chiefs and Chargers. And he's also dealing with a VERY tough schedule this year. If he hadn't been aggressive this year and lost Phillips (or just re-signed him), Decker, DRC, Ayers, etc., the Broncos would be in a tough position to get back to the SB, particularly with a SB loss hangover.

Long term, the contracts aren't nearly as crippling as they appeared at first glance.

 

[borg]

Carpe Diem.......SEIZE THE DAY!!!

You have the highest scoring offense in NFL history and a window of 2-3 years.......OF COURSE YOU GO FOR IT.

Elway is the NFL's Danny Ainge.....banking on high priced, aging vets with superior skills. The day Manning chose Denver is the day Elway pushed his chips all in....to do anything else would be a complete waste of a rare opportunity to win.

Lets harken back to 2007......BB rebuilds his passing attack and creates an UBERTEAM.....and BB and company GO FOR GREATNESS....never taking their foot off the pedal.

I applaud Denver for daring to be great.

 

[Miguel]

Free agency: How Denver Broncos did what it did - ESPN

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Awesome... I didn't even have to wait 2-3 years before it blew up, as I predicted. I would consider firing the entire coaching staff in the midst of their contacts evidence that this season was an abject failure. Considering they had nine pro bowl players yet were still worse than last year (playoffs not even included, their point differential was about 80 points lower this season, and last season they had tons of injuries.), things sure aren't looking good in Denver right now, and many are questioning where they can go now that they've gone and buried themselves in those huge contracts. They won't have enough cap space to re-sign many of their own impact players, let alone improve to SB-caliber. They have cap space, but not enough. You may blame their shortcomings on Manning's "injury", but I think the fact they've bulldozed the coaching staff points to a lot more disappointment behind the scenes than we are aware of.

Teams don't successfully get better by signing all the highest priced free agents... it just doesn't work that way. The Patriots made some less notable signings and are better. The Broncos went with the fantasy football advice and are worse. The Patriots are in good cap shape; the Broncos are not. This is the NFL... it's an axiom that should be repeated over and over again: "Free agency is not the way to build a team, Free agency is not the way to build a team..."

 

[Archeryaddict12]

Yep huge flop from the get go. Shows that bb is the best at managing a roster and keeping it in contention every year. Elways method flopped big big big time. Look at all these keyboard gms lol

 

[fightingirish595]

Awesome... I didn't even have to wait 2-3 years before it blew up, as I predicted. I would consider firing the entire coaching staff in the midst of their contacts evidence that this season was an abject failure. Considering they had nine pro bowl players yet were still worse than last year (playoffs not even included, their point differential was about 80 points lower this season, and last season they had tons of injuries.), things sure aren't looking good in Denver right now, and many are questioning where they can go now that they've gone and buried themselves in those huge contracts. They won't have enough cap space to re-sign many of their own impact players, let alone improve to SB-caliber. They have cap space, but not enough. You may blame their shortcomings on Manning's "injury", but I think the fact they've bulldozed the coaching staff points to a lot more disappointment behind the scenes than we are aware of.

Teams don't successfully get better by signing all the highest priced free agents... it just doesn't work that way. The Patriots made some less notable signings and are better. The Broncos went with the fantasy football advice and are worse. The Patriots are in good cap shape; the Broncos are not. This is the NFL... it's an axiom that should be repeated over and over again: "Free agency is not the way to build a team, Free agency is not the way to build a team..."

Couldn't agree more, I liked the talib signing for Denver but i did not think ward and Ware made sense, you just do not build a team through free agency

 

[meatface]

Elway knew that his time with manning was limited and did build around that but at the same time several of his moves seemed more about flash than how well the player fit. Ward is a good player but he doesn't fit what Jack del Rio does on defense really well and an imperfect fit probably shouldn't have that contract. He is the exact kind of guy that the media loves to dote on so he gets all the praise

 

[RecoveringCowboy]