Elway still on a Rocky Mountain high

Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drive through the streets of Denver, and John Elway is seemingly everywhere.

His name adorns decals on the back of Chevrolets purchased at his three local dealerships. The Cherry Creek steakhouse that bears his name the place to be seen for after-work drinks. His face is on billboards, his voice on radio commercials.

Elway could have lived out his retirement here, raking in money and enjoying the life of this city's biggest celebrity, athletic or otherwise.

Instead, he has chosen to get back into the football life, with early mornings and late nights in the office and frequent scouting trips to small college towns. In his second year at the helm of Denver Broncos' front office, he is proving to be as equally adept at building and running a team as he was in playing for one.

"I've never wanted to disappoint anybody that's entrusted a position on me, whether it was as a player, or the role I'm in now. That's the challenge, and that's what makes me tick – that I want to be good at it." Elway told USA TODAY Sports. "When I got this job and heard the criticism of, 'Oh he's not ready' it was something I was used to, and I used it as an incentive to be able to be good at what I do."

In the 22 months since he was hired as executive vice president of football operations, Elway has taken the Broncos from the franchise's lowest point following their 4-12 season under Josh McDaniels and re-crafted the Broncos' roster to fit his vision . Of the 31 players who have started for the Broncos this season, 23 were drafted, signed or re-signed by Elway.

"In a very short period of time, it's become pretty evident how talented we are on the football field," said veteran linebacker Keith Brooking, who signed with the Broncos in August. "He's done a great job of that."

Elway pulled off the biggest coup of the offseason when he convinced superstar quarterback Peyton Manning to sign with the Broncos. He then traded away popular quarterback Tim Tebow to the Jets for a pair of late-round draft picks.

Elway said he believes moving on from Tebow to a more traditional quarterback was the right move.

"I believe that there are Tebow fans, and there are Broncos fans," he said. "My responsibility is to the Broncos fans, and my responsibility is to (owner) Pat Bowlen and what he wants to do, and that's win championships. "

Manning appreciated Elway's perspective on how to win as a quarterback in his late 30s when the two met in March. Once Manning became a Bronco, their conversations continued, and Manning said he has seen Elway take input on personnel moves from everyone to assistant coaches and even players.

"Sometimes people don't want to hear anyone else's thoughts, but John listened," Manning said. "He's got to make the call, but I think if John hears a good idea, and he agrees, he's going to move on it. To me, that's working together as a team."

Risking his legacy

Eight months later, Dove Valley largely drama-free for the first time in years, and the Broncos, at 6-3, seem destined for the playoffs. A win Sunday against San Diego would give Denver a three-game lead in the AFC West before Thanksgiving.

Those two moves only reinforced that Elway's return to the Broncos was far more than a public relations move for a franchise that had seemingly lost its way.

"My reputation probably had something to do with it. With where the organization was at that time, it needed a little boost, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it also. And then I lacked experience at that level, so they were taking a big step with me, a risk with me," Elway said.

Indeed, the move was a gamble – both for the Broncos, and for Elway, who risked damaging his pristine legacy in this city.

"It was huge, and I respect that. He didn't have to do this, but he's a competitive guy. He didn't do it because he needed the money," Broncos coach John Fox said. "There is no doubt that he put himself out there. There is a lot of criticism that comes with this position, and I have great respect for that."

Elway, despite his Hall of Fame career as a player, had spent more than a decade largely disassociated from the Broncos. He bought an Arena League team, the Colorado Crush, and served as CEO for six years, but had no scouting or management experience at the NFL level. His experience with the Crush taught Elway that he wanted a bigger role with the Broncos, even though throughout the 2000s he was unsure if that opportunity would ever come.

Longtime coach Mike Shanahan was fired in 2008, and McDaniels' disastrous tenure lasted only 28 games. For Bowlen and team president Joe Ellis, hiring Elway was an easy decision, even if the move wasn't widely viewed as a slam dunk .

"He has tremendous knowledge and understanding of football, the NFL and what the Denver Broncos represented in our community. It was a deep resume, and people over looked that," Ellis said. "They'll say he hadn't earned it, hadn't paid his dues. I heard that. Trust me, he was ready to do this job."

Certainly the failures of other players-turned-executives hurt Elway's cause. Dan Marino, Elway's quarterbacking peer, lasted only two weeks in charge of the Dolphins. Matt Millen became a punch line as general manager of the Detroit Lions. Michael Jordan never came close to matching his playing success in his management endeavors.

So why would Elway be more like Ozzie Newsome, with the Baltimore Ravens, or Jerry West with the Los Angeles Lakers, than Millen ?

Ernie Accorsi was the general manager of the Cleveland Browns for part of Newsome's Hall of Fame playing career, and hired him as a scout in 1991. Ellis asked Accorsi to talk to Elway after Elway accepted the Broncos' job, and Accorsi said it was apparent to him that Elway and Newsome had plenty in common .

"Certain players that play with their eyes open. They don't have tunnel vision. Ozzie used to evaluate my drafts when he was a player. John must have done that, too," Accorsi said. "John, with all his fame, probably had a bigger obstacle to overcome. He had to convince people that in his own right he could be a good general manager. Those PR moves don't last very long after the press conference is over. It turns out they knew exactly what they were doing."

Building trust

Elway's first move was to hire a head coach to replace McDaniels. In Fox, Elway chose a man who appeared to be the opposite of the young and notoriously prickly McDaniels : Fox had nine years of head coaching experience, and a reputation of being a coach players loved to play for. They clicked immediately, and the partnership appears to be flourishing. Fox gives his input on personnel matters; Elway offers opinions on what he called "conceptual" football ideas, but they largely let each other run their areas of the organization without interference.

Much of the rest of the Broncos staff has remained intact, though the team fired general manager Brian Xanders just after the 2012 draft. With Elway growing comfortable in his role, the elevation of Matt Russell to director of player personnel and the addition of Mike Sullivan to oversee contract negotiations and the salary cap, Xanders became expendable.

Now, there is little question that the current Broncos team is a reflection of Elway. He scouts for players he would have liked to share a locker room, guys he would like to play with on offense or hated playing against on defense. After about six weeks on the job, he made his first significant player decision when he re-signed cornerback Champ Bailey just before he was set to hit the market.

"Players had to start understanding that we were going to keep the guys that were loyal to this organization and were great players. They had to start having some trust in us as a front office that we were going to start doing the right thing and keeping the right guys. Champ was the guy," Elway said. " The guy that we could hang our hat on and start building around him."

Manning is the headliner on Elway's crop of players, but plenty of other under-the-radar signings have made important contributions, from re-signing linebacker Wesley Woodyard in March (he now leads the team in tackling); signing free agent center Dan Koppen in mid-September (he now starts after J.D. Walton suffered a broken ankle); signing Brooking, 36, during training camp (he unseated starter Joe Mays in October); and claiming kick returner Trindon Holliday off waivers from Houston in October (he scored in each of the previous two games).

The job hasn't come without hasn't been without criticism, especially late last season, when Elway repeatedly declined to endorse Tebow as the Broncos' long-term solution at quarterback. Other personnel moves failed, notably the signing of defensive tackle Ty Warren, who played only five snaps in two seasons because of injuries, yet collected $5.5 million.

His first draft of 2011 appears to be a success, with No. 2 pick Von Miller emerging as one of the league's best defensive players, and three others from that class currently starting. He was criticized for moving out of the first round in 2012 to select defensive lineman Derek Wolfe and quarterback Brock Osweiler in the second round. Wolfe has started every game, but Osweiler (at least the Broncos are hoping) won't contribute for years.

" We want to build something that's going to be solid and be competitive year in and year out," Elway said. "If you look at the good teams and what they've done, they've stacked drafts, and that's really what the goal is: Stack drafts, add smart players through free agency and keep getting better."