A former quarterback, Elway is an offensive minded executive, balanced out by Broncos defensive minded Head Coach John Fox. (Image courtesy of Andrew Mason/MaxDenver.com)In 2010, the Denver Broncos had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Heading into this year's draft, the defense -- and more specifically the defensive line -- is obviously where the Broncos need the most help.
Among the fans and most analysts, the consensus seems to be simple: Denver needs to focus on and address the defense in this year's draft. With the 2nd overall pick, the Broncos will most likely do just that. After that however, nobody can say for sure which way the the Broncos will go.
If what Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and Head Coach John Fox are saying is any indication of what the Broncos will do though, it looks as if the team may surprise and go offensive in the early rounds of the draft.
"We are gonna stick to our board and pick the best players, all the way through the draft," said Broncos General Manager Brian Xanders during a press conference on Wednesday. Elway added that having free agency after the draft (assuming that the lockout will eventually be lifted and that there will be a free agency period) will let the team focus on drafting the best players in the draft and then fill-in team needs through free agency.
"Rather than having free agency and then having to fill [team needs] through the draft, now we can go out and draft the best players for the Denver Broncos and then fill any needs through free agency," said Elway before adding, "It doesn't put pressure on us to draft need positions in the draft."
There are several ways you could interpret Elway's statements and we could be reading too far into it, but when Elway says things like "We are evaluating every single position and are keeping our options open," it sounds as if the Broncos could definitely be considering drafting a few of the best offensive prospects in the draft.
It wouldn't be too surprising to see Denver draft a running back and/or quarterback in the second or third rounds (especially considering the team has two second round selections); they may however, even trade back in the first round and select a defensive and offensive player in the first round.
The draft is one week away from tomorrow, stay tuned for updates all the way up to when Denver will be on the clock with the second overall pick all the way through the seventh round.
3 comments:
Why is it that Elway has changed his mindset in the stage of the Quaterback position. Because when he was looking for a head coach he was looking for one who could run an offense with Tebow right?
Take Elway's words (all of them) with a grain of salt. He has answered every question very vaguely and has really said a lot of things without saying much anything, and the media has twisted them and used them the way they want to.
Tebow will stick around and he'll get a chance to compete for the starting job, we just don't know yet with whom he'll be competing...
Well if they are really taking the best player over greatest need then they will be drafting Peterson at #2 if he's still there. If he's off the board it would be Dareus or Miller.
Post a Comment