Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton held court with the media at the annual NFL owners meetings in Arizona, and as you would expect, he dropped some absolute gold.
Payton spoke on a wide range of topics, but undoubtedly the most surprising revelation he made was that 2024 third-round pick Jonah Elliss would be getting some snaps this offseason at the linebacker position. Elliss was a pure edge rusher prospect coming out of Utah and has played there for the first two seasons of his NFL career.
Although the Broncos certainly have more than one spot available at the linebacker position, the idea of Elliss taking snaps there could spell certain doom for another former third-round pick of the team: 2023 third-rounder Drew Sanders.
Drew Sanders' clock is ticking with Broncos giving Jonah Elliss a look at linebacker
"You’re going to see [OLB Jonah] Elliss take some snaps inside. That is something that we have discussed relative to our depth at the edge.
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)
It's actually kind of fascinating how many of these guys Sean Payton has been around in his coaching career. You can look all the way back to Payton's early years with the Saints when he drafted Rob Ninkovich, who was a defensive end by trade and ended up carving out a very productive career with the Patriots as a versatile linebacker who rushed the passer.
Payton mentioned Kaden Elliss along with Zack Baun in New Orleans, and in Denver, there have been players like Baron Browning, Drew Sanders, and now Jonah Elliss.
Elliss undoubtedly has the athletic traits to be able to make the switch, or if it's not a full-time position switch, he definitely has the ability to play some of that off-ball linebacer position with his speed, range, and change of direction. Plus, Elliss is just such an instinctive player.
And the new format of kickoff returns can serve as a bit of a testing ground for this type of thing as well. The way coverage units have to line up on kick returns could give the Broncos a fairly decent look at some translatable skills at the linebacker position in terms of taking on and coming off of blocks, as well as taking proper angles and wrapping up as a tackler.
And the fact that Payton is throwing out names like Kaden Elliss and Zack Baun is indicative that he's got high hopes for how good Elliss can be in this role.
A lot of the pushback from fans has been the fact that Vance Joseph doesn't exactly have the best track record with guys making position switches, which is pretty fair. Joseph has done a great job of unleashing pass rushers in his defensive scheme, but players with hybrid skill sets have struggled.
That would include players like DeMarcus Walker, Baron Browning, Isaiah Simmons, Zaven Collins, and now Drew Sanders. Could Jonah Elliss be the one that takes? What can the Broncos realistically learn from the way Kaden Elliss and Zack Baun switched positions, and how that can apply to Jonah Elliss early on?
Either way, it's not great news for Drew Sanders, at least on the surface. The Broncos undoubtedly know they can't bank on any contributions from Sanders, who has missed the majority of his first three seasons in the NFL due to injury. There have been flashes from Sanders when he's gotten on the field, but those moments have been too few and far between.
Sanders is a tremendous talent who made that position flip in college from the edge to linebacker, but the Broncos moved him back to the edge, then back to linebacker, and he's just not been able to get much-needed work on the field to develop.
Elliss has two years remaining on his rookie deal compared to Sanders, who is entering the final year of his deal. He's going to have an uphill battle to make the roster with the Broncos expected to invest in the linebacker position in the 2026 NFL Draft as well.