The Denver Broncos have a problem, but it's a good one. They simply have too many players on the edge who aren't able to get the number of snaps their talent warrants.
When people say, "You can never have too many good pass rushers," they clearly weren't thinking about the Denver Broncos. The Broncos have so many good pass rushers that they are giving third-year player Jonah Elliss a chance to earn more snaps playing the linebacker position, according to head coach Sean Payton.
That revelation was met with a mixed bag of feedback, as you would anticipate, but Payton made a situational comparison to a couple of other players that could give everyone in Broncos Country a boost of confidence in even the idea of Elliss making a position switch.
Denver Broncos could have Zack Baun situation on their hands with Jonah Elliss
“It’s the decision to give him snaps going forward. Skill set, it’s a position where we are wanting—I drafted his brother [Saints LB Kaden Elliss]. The same thing happened with [Eagles LB] Zack Baun, only we couldn’t get Zack Baun on the field. Now Philadelphia managed to. It was really looking at your assets, and we know that he is smart, tough and he has all the… Sometimes, that inside backer position—one of the best in our league at San Francisco in [49ers LB] Fred Warner, you saw him play more out in space, outside backer. Sometimes you have to look at the skill set, and then project where you think it can go, and your depth on the edge that allows you to do something like that. We will have a chance to visit with him on it.”
- Sean Payton (via Broncos PR)
The interesting thing about Zack Baun's situation is the fact that he didn't play off-ball linebacker much at all until he got to the Eagles, and that was after playing an entire rookie contract with the Saints.
In fact, Baun never played more defensive snaps in New Orleans than he did special teams snaps, and now he's got back-to-back years under Vic Fangio with 123 or more tackles, and 3.5 sacks each of the past two seasons.
Baun was also a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in his first year starting for the Eagles, so there is some hope that things could work out exceptionally well for Elliss should he make the switch permanently and not just float to that position.
And to be fair, we have to pump the brakes on what Payton said a little bit. He said that we're going to see Elliss "take some snaps" at the inside linebacker spot. He never said he was making a full-time position switch, but the implication by bringing up players like Elliss's brother Kaden and Zack Baun is that a full-time switch could at least be on the table.
And perhaps Elliss can realize the vision that Drew Sanders, up to this point, has failed to reach for the team. The Broncos wanted a big, athletic playmaker at linebacker who was also a "pressure player" at the position. There's no reason Elliss can't be that.
And the opportunity to have him on the field more, especially if it's at the same time as guys like Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, feels like a huge win for the Broncos. If the vision is something like what we've seen with Kaden Elliss and Zack Baun, then that changes everything with how this decision is perceived.