John Elway Cryptic (Mostly) At Broncos Pre-Draft Presser
Let’s just call it what it is — the pre-draft press conference featuring John Elway is a pretty useless exercise, at least if you want real answers about the NFL Draft, and you can’t exactly blame anyone.
It’s an opportunity for the media to get information from the guy in charge of running the Broncos, so of course we’re going to take it, but Elway can’t really say anything but blanket statements about the draft or really cryptic generalizations about the draft class as a whole.
Case in point:
“As much as we go in with a plan, that plan always changes because of different things that go on during the draft,” Elway said. “So what we try to do is cover all situations, and, again, really try to find football players that are going to make our football team, and make us better — regardless of what the position is.”
So, in case you were wondering, all positions on the team are options when the Broncos are on the clock at pick 28 in the first round.
Or will they trade up?
Or will they not…?
“Obviously, we’ve got a week to go, so we’ll look at the different scenarios and possibilities. We do have some ammunition, which is good,” Elway said. “But you can never have enough of them (picks) either. Sometimes the more bullets you have, the more chances you have to be successful. So there’s two theories of thought there. It’s always expensive going up, though.”
At this point, Elway knows what the Broncos want to do with this year’s draft, which is information he’s not going to give, but in terms of knowing how things are going to shake out, now less than a week from the draft itself, your guess is apparently as good as his.
This week, and likely for the last few months, the Broncos have probably been executing mock drafts, looking at different scenarios and thinking about the players they’d like to pick. The problem with projecting the Broncos’ pick is not only the fact that they pick so late in the first and it’s hard to have a clue of who will be available, but even projecting guys who might be there in the late first round, there is always a whole other group of guys that they’ll be able to choose from.
Will it be a nose tackle like Jordan Phillips or Malcom Brown, or will it be a powerful pass rusher like Owamagbe Odighizuwa or Preston Smith? Will it be a true offensive tackle like Andrus Peat or D.J. Humphries, or will it be a guy that can also play guard like T.J. Clemmings or La’El Collins?
Or will it be a jack-of-all-trades like Cameron Erving?
What if Todd Gurley falls?
As you can see, my head is spinning, and Elway hasn’t made that any more clear, though he did say he likes the class of right tackles, which is arguably the Broncos’ top need at this point (depending where you stand with Michael Schofield).
“Well, there’s a lot of good tackles in the draft. I think that’s one area of the draft that does have some depth, especially at the top. So there is a possibility for that,” Elway said.
The greatest revelation from Elway’s pre-draft presser was his disappointment with the situation surrounding Demaryius Thomas, whom he believes has no good reason to not be with his teammates right now, saying that it helps nobody.
At any rate, what we thought we knew leading up to the draft might have been squashed by Elway at his pre-draft presser, or it might not have been. The Broncos are going to be in position to trade up, trade down, or draft the best player available at a reasonable place of need. That could be offensive line, it could be defensive line, linebacker, but who really knows?
All that we know at this point is that the draft is going to be exciting, as per usual. The Broncos will get a bunch of new players that we can all be excited about, and hopefully the top three picks can play a significant role in what everyone hopes will be a Super Bowl team in 2015.