John Elway Has Faith in Denver Broncos Youngsters
The NFL Scouting Combine festivities are underway, and John Elway was a popular man among those made available to the press today, which also included some of the best players in the draft.
Elway spoke on everything from the team’s current free agents to Peyton Manning, and even addressed something that most people don’t really have on their radar right now, which is the development and confidence the team has in its young players, those drafted in the last couple of years.
It’s not a shock by any means that Elway is supportive of the guys he himself has drafted, more what you can read between the lines of some of his comments which are supported by even the new coaching staff. Elway was asked about offensive tackle Michael Schofield, who was inexplicably inactive the entire season despite the team’s horrendous woes at right tackle, and emergency, knee-jerk reaction of putting Louis Vasquez out of position to patch it up.
Elway, on Michael Schofield, inactive all year: "We were excited about Schofield coming out of preseason, & we couldn't get him a uni(form)"
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) February 19, 2015
Obviously Elway is not the coach, and when he talked earlier this offseason about the team mutually parting ways with John Fox, he cited that they had differences in how to reach the next level. You can tell by some of his comments that Elway was irked with some personnel decisions that were made on the field — ultimately out of his control — and feels strongly that young players shouldn’t sit just because they are young.
@rainierdawgfan Part of why they mutually agreed to part ways, IMO. Elway believes in draft-&-develop, then supplement in FA.
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) February 19, 2015
Schofield was not the only player that Elway touched on, either. He had some great things to say about running backs C.J. Anderson and Montee Ball, as well as receiver Cody Latimer. On Anderson:
John Elway very positive about both C.J. Anderson and Montee Ball in new offense. Called CJ ‘perfect fit’. #broncos
— Predominantly Orange (@PredomOrange) February 19, 2015
Elway cites health/confidence as big factors for Montee Ball making big contributions.
— Predominantly Orange (@PredomOrange) February 19, 2015
Elway also mentioned second year receiver Cody Latimer, a player who didn’t see the field much last year, but added to Gary Kubiak’s comments and mentioned how excited he was to see Latimer receive extra time on the field.
Elway says the #Broncos have “high expectations” for Cody Latimer. Says he had a great rookie year essentially learning.
— Predominantly Orange (@PredomOrange) February 19, 2015
So, to sum up, C.J. Anderson is a perfect fit for Gary Kubiak’s offense, Michael Schofield probably should have been given a shot to play as a rookie, Montee Ball needs to get healthy and play confident, and the Broncos ‘really like’ and have ‘high expectations’ for wide receiver Cody Latimer.
Not a bad start to the Combine, even with no news on Peyton Manning or any of the impending free agents.