Denver Broncos Looking for Men More Than Measurables at NFL Combine

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway made a big statement this offseason. It’s his team now, and he expects the players to play with a certain level of passion.

Elway determined head coach John Fox couldn’t light a fire under the team despite four successful seasons, and so he made a change. Of course, if it were that simple, teams that lose in the playoffs would be replacing their head coach all the time.

The reality is that the team Elway assembled also lacks the necessary ingredients, so his job at the NFL Scouting Combine will be to identify players that play with the passion he covets. Unlike the broad jump, it’s a lot harder to measure the heart of a man.  

Above all, they must be good football players. Months of scouting and an untold sum of money have gone into making sure the team can whittle down the list of draft eligible players to a draft board.

The scouting combine essentially has three components. It’s a chance to interview players, get detailed medical reports and crudely measure their athleticism. All of them are part of the process, but the unseen in this case is a lot more important than the televised athletic testing.

Identifying Passionate Players

Generally, players with work ethic concerns aren’t players the Broncos should be looking to add to their roster. If a player doesn’t work hard, any passion they show on Sunday will be in vain.  

Work ethic should not be lumped in with other character concerns. Many great NFL players came into the league working hard and partying hard. You might say that some of the greats just didn’t know any other speed than to go hard all the time in everything they did.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

There’s nothing wrong with taking a calculated risk on a player with work ethic concerns, but that would send the wrong message after jettisoning Fox and much of the coaching staff. It’s also unfair to Gary Kubiak, who would be under pressure to get the team to show more passion on the field without players who will do so.

The question is how to go about identifying passionate football players. Elway will have to be crafty in the interview room, but passionate football players tend to be the same way off the gridiron.

It’s natural to question their commitment if they were overly infatuated with stuff outside of football, but if they show a tendency to be passionate about other things, it should give Elway a clue as to how passionate they are in the locker room. Just like the measurables, the interview has to match what the team is seeing on tape.

Also underrated is watching how the players interact with other players around them. We tend to gravitate toward people with passion as human beings. Some people call this natural leadership, and it’s exactly what the Broncos want.

Instant Contributors

Unlike previous seasons, the Broncos could really use an instant contributor at a position of need in the draft. Their most pressing needs prior to free agency are nose tackle, free safety and offensive guard.

According to Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post, the Broncos have not had any contract talks with defensive tackle Terrance Knighton this offseason. That’s not particularly worrisome at this point, but Knighton probably owes it to himself to test the market and see if Jack Del Rio and the Oakland Raiders will use a chunk of their cap space to steal him away.

That could leave the Broncos scrambling for a free agent, or to a prospect like Jordan Phillips, who NFL.com compares to Knighton. Phillips is 6’6” and 334 pounds, so he has the frame to play the nose, but he’s also athletic enough that new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips can use him to penetrate the pocket when the situation calls for it.

Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

NFL Network’s Mike Mayock told Peter King of theMMQB.com that Phillips could shine athletically at the combine this week and is one of the boom-or-bust prospects in this draft. Phillips is a first-round pick on most boards, but he started just 16 games in college and that could make him available at 28 for the Broncos.

“Back surgery two years ago, only started 16 games in college, but he’s a dancing bear, and he’ll probably go in the first round,” Mayock said.

If Phillips fits what the Broncos want at 28, they'll have to be comfortable with his medical history. Otherwise, he's one of the few good options they will have to replace Knighton with should he follow Del Rio to Oakland. 

If the Broncos don’t bring back Rahim Moore, they’ll need to figure out what they want to do at free safety. Moving Kayvon Webster is an option, but that would leave them thin at cornerback.

It’s widely considered a weak draft for safeties, and the top options are likely going to be off the board by 28. However, moving Webster and drafting a player like Gerod Holliman or Derron Smith in the second or third round to compete wouldn’t be a bad idea.

NFL Draft Lead Writer Matt Miller has Holliman as his 28th overall player headed into the combine, but he’s not even one of Mayock’s top safeties and CBS has him projected in the third round. Holliman won the Jim Thorpe award, but he is coming out as a redshirt sophomore.

Earl Thomas, who is one of the leaders of a team with the fire that Elway hopes his team can emulate, also left college after his redshirt sophomore season. The only knock on Thomas coming out was his size, which is a lot more like Smith.

According to Lance Zierlein’s scouting report on NFL.com, Smith checks off every box except he lacks ideal size. If that’s the only major thing missing from his game, and the Broncos can get him in the second or third round, they’ve probably done well.

It’s a solid draft for offensive linemen, so the Broncos should have a plethora of options. Athletic tackles like T.J. Clemmons, Andrus Peat or Cedric Ogbuehi are all options, but what they really need right now is a replacement for left guard Orlando Franklin, who will be a free agent in March.

Cameron Erving projects to center or guard with great upside, but the Broncos are probably looking for a player who can play right away. Erving is still raw, so the Broncos would have to pair him with a veteran. With Manning under center, the Broncos would probably prefer an offensive line with a stable starting five.

If the Broncos want to re-shape one of the units on the team into what Elway wants then selecting a player with passion that fits a need and can play immediately will be important. The combine is a great place to try to figure out which players might fit their mold.