Why John Elway is entering his most important offseason with the Broncos
Now flip the calendar to 2019. Elway again has hired an experienced coach with a defensive background, 60-year-old Vic Fangio. He's traded for a former Super Bowl MVP in quarterback Joe Flacco. But the Broncos are in a historical funk -- with back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the early 1970s and the first back-to-back seasons with double-digit losses since the 1960s -- and it all happened with Elway in charge.nike nfl jerseys for cheap
Elway was asked earlier this offseason what a successful turnaround would look like in the short term.
"Win. That's our job, right?" Elway said. "You can look at all of the different things that happened last year and you can look at the numbers of wins we've had the last two and say, 'All right, we want to win one more or two more that [were close losses].' But the bottom line is we want to get this thing turned around, get it back on track, get out there, play disciplined football and play like we're capable of playing."
The decision to hire Fangio in the wake of coach Vance Joseph's firing shows Elway believes, as he did when he hired Fox in 2011, the Broncos need a steadying influence. While Fangio has never been a head coach at any level, he has more than three decades' worth of NFL experience, including more than 20 years as a defensive coordinator. Fangio is lauded for his ability to adjust what he does to succeed over multiple decades as well as pushing players to achieve their best.
And as they did in 2011, when they owned the No. 2 pick, the Broncos hold a premium draft pick -- they are slated to select 10th in April -- and are searching for long-term answers at quarterback. They played the 2011 season with a combination of Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow before they signed Manning.cheap nike nfl jerseys china
This time around, they again opened an offseason with questions at quarterback with Case Keenum under contract for only the upcoming season. The Broncos then agreed to a framework of a trade with the Baltimore Ravens that will bring the 34-year-old Flacco to Denver, a move that helps the Broncos in 2019, but still leaves the long-term future at quarterback largely undecided given the Broncos do not have a quarterback they drafted on their roster.
"It's hard to find those guys," Elway said earlier this offseason. "That's why you look at it and do the best you can. I looked at it with the decision to go with Case last year. He had a great year with Minnesota. There's a combination of everything when it comes down to that quarterback position. It comes down to giving also the best opportunity to be successful. We just have to continue to try to hunt and find the right combination on the offensive side."
