John Elway: 'As Motivated As I've Been' As Broncos GM
(247 SPORTS) - John Elway took a break from golfing at The Broadmoor Sunday to drop a head-turning sound bite about the upcoming NFL season.
The Denver Broncos general manager, among 84 qualifiers competing for a spot in the U.S. Senior Open, confided to Paul Klee of the Colorado Springs Gazette that last year's futility has been an impetus for unprecedented hunger – a hunger to win.
"In my mind I'm probably as motivated as I've been since I took this job. That's why I'm really, really looking forward to this season," Elway said. "I've always been a little bit motivated by criticism. And some of the criticism is just. But I've always used that as incentive to want to get better. We had a lot of good years before last year — bringing Peyton (Manning) here, the Super Bowls — so that made last year all the more disappointing. My No. 1 goal right now is to get us back to where we have that good football team with a great culture. That's where it needs to be here."
This is uncharted territory for Elway, who guided the Broncos to five straight division titles, two Super Bowl appearances and a Lombardi Trophy since assuming the role as team czar in 2011. A rare non-playoff campaign in 2016 spiraled into a 5-11 disaster in 2017, so calamitous that Elway nearly fired a rookie head coach for the first time in franchise history.
That coach, Vance Joseph, was retained for at least another year, likely with the directive to win or pack his bags. Elway is guardedly optimistic about the sophomore version of Joseph. Key word: "guardedly."
"We'll have to see," he said. "He had to drink through a firehose last year. I think a lot of times those situations are when you're going to learn the most. It's hard to say until we get into the season. So we'll see."
Joseph struggled mightily across the board, but he wasn't put in the best position to succeed, hampered by questionable (at best) personnel and an inexperienced staff. Elway swiftly worked this offseason to correct such errors. To paraphrase Bill Parcells, he bought the groceries and stocked the proverbial cupboard.
In came assistant coaches with veritable experience (Tom McMahon), a proven starting quarterback (Case Keenum), capable right tackle (Jared Veldheer), do-it-all defender (Su'a Cravens) and one hell of a draft haul (Bradley Chubb, Courtland Sutton, Royce Freeman, DaeSean Hamilton Josey Jewell). He even snagged an All-Pro punter (Marquette King).
Out went the remains of Denver's broken QB room (Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler), its aging veterans (Aqib Talib, C.J. Anderson) and free agents who were easily replaced (Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler).
If the Broncos fall flat again, it certainly won't be on Elway. He's done his damnedest to avoid a repeat fate at all costs, literally and figuratively.
"I want to get us back to where we're competitive year-in and year-out," he said. "That's the fun part of it. It's no fun to go 5-11. Winning, that's fun."
