John Elway admits biggest mistake as Denver Broncos general manager

Denver Broncos legend John Elway is not only the reason the Broncos are one of the most storied franchises in NFL history as a player, but Elway is the architect of arguably both the best offense and the best defense in league history as the general manager of the team.

Needless to say, Elway's incredible legacy goes without saying in most cases. He has been the savior of the Denver Broncos in more ways than one.

But his record as a general manager is not without blemish. In fact, Elway himself recently did an interview with Barstool Sports and admitted his worst mistake as the general manager of the Denver Broncos: Passing on quarterback Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Denver Broncos legend John Elway admits he should have drafted Josh Allen

The Barstool Sports guys are asking Elway how he didn't get Allen in the 2018 NFL Draft, especially when Allen was "his type" of quarterback. At the time, Elway was almost notorious for taking shots on big, tall quarterbacks with tantalizing traits. He did it in 2012 with Brock Osweiler and again in 2016 with Paxton Lynch.

"I know, he is (exactly my type)...And I loved him, right? But it just didn't work out and he was my type. That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days was not taking Josh."

John Elway

At 6-foot-5, Josh Allen's athletic talent and cannon of an arm seemingly made him the ideal player for John Elway to take a swing on, but there were a number of factors at the time that likely caused Elway to hesitate on pulling the trigger when Allen was there with the 5th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

First of all, the Paxton Lynch debacle was still fresh. In fact, as of the 2018 NFL Draft, Lynch was still on the Broncos' roster. There's no doubt that the failure of Lynch played a role in Elway passing on Allen, who struggled at times to hit the broad side of a barn as a college quarterback. Even though his arm talent and athletic traits were obvious, Allen's NFL projection was anything but a sure thing by the time we got to the 2018 draft.

That's why every QB needy team at the top of the class passed on him until Buffalo swooped in.

The Browns took Baker Mayfield. The Jets took Sam Darnold. The Broncos passed. The perceived "floor" on Josh Allen was seemingly way lower than some of the other guys in his class. Other people liked Josh Rosen more than Josh Allen.

Beyond the Paxton Lynch debacle, it was completely unexpected for Bradley Chubb to fall to the Broncos' pick at #5 overall. He was expected to go in the top four picks, presumably to either New York or Cleveland. The Browns had multiple picks in the top four but they surprised everybody by passing on Chubb and taking Denzel Ward.

Once Chubb was sitting there, the idea of pairing up Von Miller with another top-five pass rush talent was too much for the Broncos to pass on.

If you followed that 2018 NFL Draft class closely, I don't know that anyone criticized the Broncos all that much for passing on Allen at the time. Allen certainly had his supporters so it wasn't unanimous, but many people, myself included, were completely out on Josh Allen and his NFL projection. I watched first-hand at the 2018 Senior Bowl as pass after pass from Allen sailed through the uprights. He struggled with the same stuff in college and seemed to shrink and sulk in some big moments against Nebraska and Oregon.

Admittedly, I was hyper-critical of Allen coming out of Wyoming and I was obviously wrong about his NFL projection. Although some people think Allen is overrated in the NFL today, I think he's developed into one of the biggest difference-makers in the league. Would the Broncos and their fans have afforded Allen the same patience the Bills did?

Coming off of the Paxton Lynch disaster, it's hard to say that this fan base would have taken Allen's growing pains in stride. He came into the league in arguably the ideal situation for the growth and development he needed as a player.

The Broncos have been stuck in quarterback purgatory for a long time at this point. Elway is partially the reason why, but finding and identifying franchise QBs is not exactly an exact science. There is risk involved, and Josh Allen is a risk Elway now wishes he would have taken.