Broncos GM John Elway emphasizes offensive improvement in 2020

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway is as aware as anyone that the team needs to be better offensively in 2020. That will be a point of emphasis.

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway doesn’t always get it right picking players in the draft or free agency, but he’s certainly not unaware of the reason the Broncos have not been successful.

If there’s anything we’ve learned about Elway through the years as a general manager, it’s that he is basically willing to do whatever it takes to correct the team’s primary problems to keep the Broncos in contention as much and as long as possible.

After assembling the greatest offense in league history in 2013, Elway watched as his team fell flat in the Super Bowl and got destroyed by an elite defense. What did he do? He spent the team’s primary free agency assets on star defensive playmakers to surround the young talent he’d drafted to build what I would consider one of the best defenses of all-time, which ultimately carried the Broncos to their third title in 2015.

When Peyton Manning left, Elway tirelessly worked at filling the void at quarterback. It took a few years to get that right, and we’re holding out hope on Drew Lock at this point but it feels as though Elway’s mentality that he will not stop ‘swinging’ for quarterbacks has paid off.

After finishing in the bottom five of most offensive categories last year, Elway obviously understands that the Broncos don’t have the firepower to compete with teams like Kansas City and San Francisco, who are representing their respective conferences in the Super Bowl this year.

How do we fix that problem? Emphasize scoring the football in the offseason.

Elway understands that the Broncos still don’t have enough weapons offensively. You look at a team like the Kansas City Chiefs with players like Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Travis Kelce, Damien Williams, and others — the Broncos have only the beginning stages of an offensive core of that caliber.

Now that Denver has identified a quarterback to build around, however, adding pieces around him becomes a bit easier and a lot more fun.

We’ve looked at a lot of mock draft scenarios here at Predominantly Orange already, but those scenarios will only grow from where we are now and I think at this point it’s safe to assume that the Broncos will be targeting offensive playmakers early in the 2020 NFL Draft and it will be interesting to see how they prioritize the offensive side of the ball in free agency.

Right now, it looks like the wisest course of action is to add playmakers in the NFL Draft where the Broncos have five top 100 selections in a class that is unbelievable at the wide receiver position. They could easily find three starting caliber players in the first five rounds of the draft if they wanted.

With that said, we know that Elway has historically been more comfortable with veteran options, so does that open things up in free agency?

It wouldn’t be my personal strategy, but we could see the Broncos targeting some guys in free agency or through trades.

I would love to see this team target multiple receivers in the 2020 NFL Draft and allocate free agency assets to the defense or offensive line. There are just too many weapons available in the draft.

Elway told Steve Atwater that the ‘bottom line’ is that the Broncos have to score more points. The question now becomes — how do they achieve that over the course of this offseason?

There are upgrades available in a deep offseason both in free agency and the NFL Draft, specifically in the areas where the Broncos have needs. I would love to see them add speed at the receiver position but also find guys who can make plays after the catch with good field vision and natural, strong hands.

We’ve seen a number of guys jump out as potential mid-round options at the Senior Bowl practices, and I wonder if Elway doesn’t have his eyes on a few guys in Mobile who could help the Broncos right away as third or fourth-round picks.