ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos put a lackluster bow Sunday on a numbingly disappointing, often maddening 5-11 season. It followed seasons of 7-9, 6-10, 5-11 and 9-7 since a Super Bowl 50 win that grows exponentially smaller in the rearview mirror with each passing year.
In the wake of all that on-field disappointment, John Elway, who has called the football shots for the team since 2011, stepped away from his role Monday. Citing a mix of being 60, having grandchildren, seeing more people in more places and, yes, the inability of the Broncos to snap their now five-year playoff drought, Elway moved aside. He will remain team president, and now he and the Broncos must search for a new general manager to replace him.
The new GM will get the keys to what has long been a landmark franchise in the NFL and the first decisions will be some of the biggest a newly-minted general manager will have to make in 2021.
A to-do list that will include:
What to do with Drew Lock
Coach Vic Fangio has said he, like most, wants quarterback Drew Lock to get to work in this offseason, repairing all that needs to be repaired to cut down on Lock’s league-leading interception total as well a league-worst completion percentage.
Fangio has said he sees progress in Lock’s play and Elway threw his support in that direction as well Monday.
“I still have high hopes for Drew,” Elway said. “… I think he’s got potential to be a very, very good football quarterback in this league and play in this league and lead teams to victories. … I think this offseason will be a chance for Drew to dig in and work hard, which I know he will, and see if he can make the necessary strides to be able to be that guy.”
Ultimately the new general manager’s feelings on Lock will dictate what the draft looks like, what free agency looks like and what the plan for 2021 and beyond looks like at the position. But two of the guys involved in the interviews for the job — Elway and Fangio — believe in Lock if Lock rolls up his sleeves this offseason.
Vic Fangio in Year 3
Fangio is not only staying on in 2021, he will have a voice in the decision of hiring the person who will have control over the players he coaches.
Fangio knows football players and he’s seen plenty of them, but he also knows his own development as a head coach — an opportunity he waited more than 30 years in the NFL to get — requires plenty of self-examination. In particular when it comes to game management.
The Broncos used timeouts when they shouldn’t have at times and Fangio shouldn’t escape a review following a 5-11 season.
People steal Fangio’s Xs and Os all the time, he’s of that lofty status as a defensive mind, but his ability to move with the Broncos into the long-term future will rest in how the job goes when he isn’t calling the defensive plays. A new GM has to help him get there.
“I think Vic came a long way this year, [but] when you don’t win, the mistakes get pointed out and emphasized,” Elway said. “There were some mistakes that he made, and I think he’d be the first one to say that those were mistakes that he made, and he’ll learn from those. Vic is a very intelligent guy and he will adjust and learn from those mistakes. I look at what went on, and the different things he had to deal with this year away from football were 10 times what he’d normally have to deal with. To get him back on a schedule … and understanding what it is to be the head coach and learning how to delegate his time and spend his time in different areas. I think he’ll get better.”
Von Miller’s future
2021 is the final year of the blockbuster $114.5 million deal linebacker Von Miller signed in 2016, a few months after he put nice sparkly Super Bowl rings on everybody’s fingers. There is a team option in the deal for ’21 that, if the team does not exercise it, could put one of the franchise’s most decorated players into the open market.
The option must be exercised by the first day of the new league year in March — the day free agency opens — for Miller to remain and would guarantee $7 million of his 2021 base salary.
On Monday, Elway said he would have input on the decision with the new GM and added: “We’d love to have Von finish his career here. He’s been a great Bronco for a long, long time, and that will be one of the big decisions we have in the offseason. The goal is to get Von back and have him end his career here.”
What that means as far as potential re-negotiations, salary reductions, multi-year extension remains to be seen. But Miller has a rare place in the team’s history as one of Broncos’ three Super Bowl MVPs, including Elway, and should likely be treated as such by the new GM.