ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — John Elway says passing on quarterback Josh Allen in the 2018 NFL draft was probably his biggest mistake as general manager of the Denver Broncos.
“Last year I played [golf] with him and I’m wondering, ‘How long is it going to take him to realize that I passed on him and took Bradley Chubb instead?’ And it took him two and a half holes,” Elway recalled during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon my Take” podcast.
“And I loved him. But it just didn’t work out. He was my type. That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days, was not taking Josh.”
Elway bypassed the strong-armed quarterback who had completed 56% of his passes during his two seasons as a starter in windy Wyoming, just a 130-mile jaunt up Interstate 25 from Denver.
Instead, with the fifth overall pick that year, Elway selected Chubb, the NC State pass rusher who had a hard time staying healthy in Denver and was eventually traded to the Miami Dolphins.
Elway had just signed Case Keenum, coming off a breakout season in Minnesota, and he was still smarting over his selection of another tall, strong quarterback from a small school in the first round two years earlier.
Not long after celebrating the franchise’s third Super Bowl title, Elway drafted Paxton Lynch out of Memphis with the 26th pick in the 2016 NFL draft — which proved the worst decision of his decade in charge of the Broncos’ roster.
Lynch was twice beaten out by seventh-rounder Trevor Siemian and started just four games before the Broncos jettisoned him in 2018.
Elway’s double whammy of selecting Lynch and bypassing Allen set in motion a long slide for the once-proud franchise, which has failed to reach the playoffs since its Super Bowl triumph following the 2015 season.
The Broncos have churned through 13 different starting quarterbacks since Peyton Manning’s retirement, and that number will rise again this season unless journeyman Jarrett Stidham fends off rookie Bo Nix and reclamation project Zach Wilson in a three-way quarterback battle.
None of them has separated himself so far.
Elway, who capped his Hall of Fame playing career with back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the late 1990s, rejoined the franchise in 2011 as director of player personnel. A year later, he was named executive vice president of football operations and replaced Tim Tebow with Manning, who led Denver to two Super Bowls in his four seasons with the Broncos.
Elway went 64-26 in his first five seasons at the helm but slipped to 32-48 in his final five years before stepping away following the 2020 season.