ENGLEWOOD, CO – JUNE 14: John Elway looks on as the Denver Broncos practice during minicamp at the team’s training facility in Englewood, Colo., on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Legendary Broncos quarterback John Elway delved into one of the franchise’s biggest questions.
Yes, the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback recently said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast that it was a mistake not to select Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL draft.
By then, of course, Elway had already been running the team as general manager for a decade.
The Broncos’ coaching staff had Allen in direct contact for a week at the Senior Bowl. They watched him play in Wyoming, just a couple of hours north of team headquarters. But they passed on the talented but inexperienced quarterback in favor of pass rusher Bradley Chubb at No. 5. Two picks later, Buffalo moved up and selected Allen.
Despite some rough patches early on, Allen has become one of the NFL’s dominant players. Not only that, but he’s done it in a way that’s reminiscent of Elway: a big, rugged athlete who can make plays with his legs and has a powerful arm.
“I loved him, but it didn’t work out,” Elway told the popular podcast before a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe. “He was my guy. Probably my biggest mistake during my days as a general manager was not drafting Josh.”
Elway said he was playing with Allen in the tournament and also played with the two-time Pro Bowler last year.
“I was playing golf with him last year and I was wondering, ‘How long is it going to take him to realize that I passed on him and picked Bradley Chubb instead?’” Elway said. “And it took him 2½ holes to figure it out.”
Allen has thrown for more than 4,000 yards in each of the past four seasons, topped 35 touchdown passes three times and led the Bills to double-digit wins in each of the past five years. That streak also includes three top-five MVP finishes.
Of course, Chubb became a very good player in his own right, but the Broncos haven’t found a permanent answer at quarterback since Peyton Manning retired in 2016. That spans several general managers, several coaching staffs and at least that high-profile draft mistake.
Now coach Sean Payton and company are organizing a three-man quarterback race between first-round rookie Bo Nix (12th pick in April’s draft), former New York Jets first-round pick Zach Wilson and sixth-year man Jarrett Stidham.
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