John Elway says tackle Menelik Watson will be back

Denver Broncos GM John Elway said on Wednesday at the Scouting Combine that tackle Menelik Watson will be back next season…

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway dropped a pretty (weird) significant bit of news at his press conference at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday in regards to his offensive line.

Offensive tackle Menelik Watson, who was one of the team’s worst players in 2017, ‘will be back’ according to Elway.

It seems hard to believe, but those words actually came out of Elway’s mouth.

Let me give you the entire quote piece on Watson from Elway:

"“Menelik will be back. He’s the right tackle.”John Elway (quotes via Broncos PR)"

Elway also talked about Ron Leary moving back to left guard.

It was hard to concentrate on really anything else Elway said after the Watson comment. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Broncos would eat Watson’s $2.66 million dead money figure and save over $4 million by cutting him outright.

Now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Watson was horrendous when healthy in 2017. He graded out by Pro Football Focus as one of the worst tackles in football, but perhaps the Broncos feel like his performance was more reflective of the quarterbacks holding the ball too long.

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I don’t know, I’m really fishing there.

This perhaps doesn’t mean that anything is final in terms of Watson’s roster spot being solidified, but Elway didn’t mince words about Watson and he was really non-committal about other players.

When asked about Aqib Talib and C.J. Anderson, specifically, he said, “We’ll see.”

But when asked about the offensive line, the first player he mentions is Watson and says that he’ll be back and that he’ll be the right tackle?

That doesn’t strike me as the most favorable option for the Broncos, but what do I know? If the Broncos have Watson at right tackle at that $7 million figure, it would make a lot of fans angry if the team decided to cut someone like Aqib Talib and keep Watson around.

There is still a lot of time for something to happen. Watson could be asked to take a pay cut. He could be a candidate to switch positions. He could still be on the chopping block.

All I know is, Elway’s comment took me and many others by complete surprise on Wednesday.