John Elway was ahead of his time as a quarterback.
The Denver Broncos quarterback had a huge arm. He was confident, competitive and very smart. Elway could make all the throws and wasn’t afraid to run away with the ball. When he ran, Elway wasn’t afraid of contact.
Elway, in many ways, was a lot like Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Despite garnering little interest at the college level, Allen was confident in his game. He believed he could play not only at the college level but in the pros as well. Like Elway, Allen possesses a bazooka for an arm and is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Fans who watch Allen see his competitiveness when he stiff-arms or leaps over defenders each week. As for his intelligence, Allen scored higher than any other quarterback in his draft class on the Wonderlic test.
In a recent appearance on the Barstool Sports show Sorry for my opinion, The legendary Broncos quarterback admitted that Allen was his type of quarterback and that passing on him in the 2018 NFL Draft was his “biggest mistake” as Denver’s general manager.
“I know he’s (my guy),” Elway told the hosts. “Last year, I played golf with him and I wonder how long it will take him to realize that I passed on him and picked Bradley Chubb instead. And it took him two and a half holes to figure it out. And I loved him, right? I just, you know, he was my guy and you’re right. That was probably my biggest mistake during my days as a general manager: not picking Josh (Allen).”
To Elway’s credit, Chubb was one of the top prospects in the draft class and played at a high level as a rookie, recording 11 sacks. While Chubb performed well, the Broncos never found the answer to his tenure at quarterback. Case Keenum, Joe Flacco and Drew Lock never appealed to Elway before his contract finally expired as Broncos general manager in April 2021.
Unfortunately for Denver, things haven’t improved much in recent seasons, with Teddy Bridgewater and Russell Wilson proving that they weren’t the answer at quarterback either. Looking ahead to 2024, Denver will turn to rookie Bo Nix, former first-round pick Zach Wilson, or Jarrett Stidham to take the reins at quarterback. Perhaps Nix ends up being the franchise quarterback that Denver has been missing and could have had with the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
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