John Elway Discusses His Future with the Denver Broncos and Franchise's Future

John Elway, the Duke of Denver, made an appearance Friday morning on AM 87.7 The Ticket, as he does each week with Vic Lombardi and Gary Miller.

This appearance was special, though, because Elway was on not only to comment on the state of the Broncos, but on where he fits in with the franchise.

Elway also commented on what he thinks of divisive head coach Josh McDaniels and what he needs to be successful in the NFL.

When asked if he believes what the Broncos need is a personnel guy, Elway replied,

“I think that’s always the case. The more eyes you have looking at guys, the better chances you have at coming out with making a good decision.

"And as you said, Josh is a very bright young coach, schematically as good as anybody in the league, really a good young football coach. But that is a lot…from what I understand, Josh is a hands-on guy…so trying to do all those different things and try to do it all is very difficult to be good at every single one of them.:

Elway pointed to the fact that since Pat Bowlen has owned the team, nearly three decades now, there hasn’t really been a GM, “When Dan was here, Dan pretty much had everything and picked everybody, and then you had Mike, who did the same thing.”

Elway continued, “When you look at it and try to fill in the organization and what they need, I think that if they could get a top talent evaluator that’s going to be able to work with Josh, [be]cause Josh is also a big piece, but the fact that you [have] to get the right people that he has in his mind that fit in his offensive scheme and what he wants to do offensively as well as defensively.”

“In that situation, it’s very important to be able to have that relationship between the head coach and your personnel guy, but also have somebody that they can work together to make a decision on a certain player without getting into wars over certain players."

And as the conversation with Elway progressed, he described sitting in on scouting sessions with his father and Dan Reeves and acknowledged it takes a special skill and a devotion of time.

“You know ,I haven’t really thought about it (analyzing players for hours). I think that…I could find that guy, let’s put it that way. I think there’s a guy out there, but also to be, you know, I would like to be involved on that football side because that’s what I know also.

"So, I think that there’s always a lookin’ at it like, ‘What would the involvement be, how would I picture it?' But there’s no question to be pictured is having the input on the football side but not being—you know, I don’t have the experience to be that No. 1 personnel guy but I could be in a forum that would look at the players.”

Gary Miller, “If the organization asked you to come back in some capacity, you’d be willing to listen?”

Elway, “Absolutely.”

There’s no question that John Elway wants to be a part of the organization, as an adviser of some sort. Pat Bowlen must be listening—or at least he should be—to Elway, and he should bring the greatest Denver Bronco of all time back to the organization.

It sounds like this is what Elway’s perfect fit with the Broncos would be:

1. Act as a consultant to Bowlen to help make certain big decisions like deciding who the right person for the GM job would be, and also likely choosing/weighing in on who McDaniels’ new coaches will be once Bowlen hands out a stack of pink slips at the end of the season.

2. Elway can be a mentor to the players—most notably Tim Tebow. Elway talked about being in on the football side of the operations, which sounds a lot like, “Get me on the sideline to help the players along. I’ll give pep talks (as he did before the Chiefs game a few weeks back), I’ll inspire a bunch of players that need it and I’ll mentor Tim with a perspective of having that amount of expectations put on you like no one else understands.”

Now, whether or not Mr. Bowlen extends a hand and offers Elway a job is up to him.

And really, why not give Elway a chance?

The fans want it. And with Elway would come a rejuvenation in hope and faith that the leadership of the Broncos' organization is doing what’s in the interest of their fanbase.

Plus, Elway obviously closely follows the team and obviously cares about their success.

The least thing Bowlen can do is construct a statue of the legendary quarterback outside the gates of New Mile High Stadium. But maybe he’s been waiting for that day until after Elway was hired as a figurehead in the franchise.

Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist actively seeking a career in journalism. Along with being a Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is the CSU Rams Examiner and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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