AJ Mast/Associated Press There are three kinds of bad ideas in this world: typical bad ideas, truly terrible ideas and John Elway's quarterback ideas. Elway's quarterback ideas are catastrophically misguided, inexplicably shortsighted, cripplingly expensive and intrinsically doomed. And each new idea is bigger, louder and more disastrous than the last. Elway's Broncos agreed to trade for Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco on Wednesday, per multiple reports. The trade won't be official until the start of the new league year in mid-March. But Elway's premature rush to acquire a veteran quarterback whose services were in dubious demand is just one of the many peculiarities of this strange, highly questionable, extremely Elway-like transaction. Flacco, who is now 34 years old, suffered a hip injury in the second half of last season and subsequently lost his starting job to rookie Lamar Jackson. Jackson led a playoff run and produced some thrilling highlights, but he never completed more than 14 passes in a game. He also fumbled a dozen times and forced the Ravens to switch to a service academy offense to get the most out of him. Jackson was universally hailed as an upgrade over Flacco, which tells you all you need to know about the current quality of Flacco's play. The Ravens were motivated sellers in a quarterback market that will soon be flooded with younger free agents, including Nick Foles. They must be thrilled to have stumbled upon an even more motivated buyer. Video Play Button Videos you might like Meanwhile, the Broncos finished 6-10 last year with Case Keenum, Elway's previous veteran franchise savior, at the helm of a popgun offense. Last season's results seemed to disprove Elway's working theory that the Broncos, whose defense carried Peyton Manning to a Super Bowl victory while he was in the process of Thanos-poofing into dust in 2015, were still good enough to be playoff contenders with a competent veteran journeyman at quarterback. But Elway quarterback ideas, like flat-earth theories, are not so easily disproven. Not to Elway, anyway. The Flacco-Broncos trade unites a fading, mediocre quarterback with a fading, mediocre roster. It isn't just a dreary alliance with no feasible path to success, but an expensive one. Flacco somehow still has three years and more than $60 million left on his contract. None of that money is guaranteed, but Flacco will cost the Broncos $18.5 million in base salary alone this year. Keenum is guaranteed $7 million for 2019 and will cost the team $10 million in cap space due to prorated bonuses even if he's released or traded. Todd Olszewski/Getty Images So the Broncos, who already have a great deal of cash and cap space locked up on aging veterans from their 2012-15 heyday, will be shelling out an awful lot of money for a pair of quarterbacks whose best years weren't fantastic and are now behind them. Flacco's presence also makes it unlikely that the Broncos will draft Drew Lock or Dwayne Haskins. Elway couldn't even wait until he had a look at the quarterbacks at this year's combine before trading for one. And he'll send the Ravens a fourth-round draft pick (per Broncos reporter Mike Klis of Denver's 9News), which deprives him of yet another resource to improve the team in the short and long term. The Flacco trade comes only one year after Elway signed Keenum, a longtime third-stringer who had a career year for the Vikings (who, tellingly, made little effort to retain him), to a two-year, $36 million contract. It comes three years after Elway spent a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch, a big guy with a strong arm who was as tough under pressure as a soap bubble. There were other regrettable quarterback ideas along the way: thirsty try-hard Trevor Siemian, living statue Brock Osweiler, All-Nepotism Team MVP Chad Kelly. Elway has also fired coaches, coordinators and even position-level assistants, and he had a sudden falling out with longtime majordomo Gary Kubiak in January. Elway's coaching ideas are almost as bad as his quarterback ideas, but that's a topic for another time. From a failed first-round pick to an overpriced journeyman off a hot streak to an injured-and-upstaged stale meme with an upside-down mortgage, every Elway quarterback idea makes the Broncos older, less competitive and more expensive. That's not how franchise-building is supposed to be done. But the Broncos cannot help but move backward under Elway, because Elway is living in the past. Elway is mentally trapped in the Manning glory years. He looks at the roster and still sees the team that went 50-14 across four seasons, won one Super Bowl and reached another, an island of Broncos success in a sea of Patriots dominance. It wasn't that long ago, after all. Some of the familiar faces are even still around, like Von Miller and Chris Harris. If Elway wants to fool himself into thinking that the Broncos still have a great defense and a championship core, even as veterans age and drift away and the team's record droops, there's enough circumstantial evidence to preserve the illusion. And now, along comes Flacco, who made his reputation by doing two things: Winning with the help of a great defense; and Beating the Broncos (and Patriots, Colts and 49ers) in the playoffs en route to winning the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. Yes, that was six years ago. Flacco was a younger, better quarterback back then. The Broncos were a vastly superior team. But Elway is still trapped in that past. We see a team that ranked 13th in points allowed and 22nd in yards allowed (hardly a defensive juggernaut) trading for the quarterback who finished 28th in quarterback rating last year. Elway sees a championship-caliber roster acquiring the proven winner who beat them (with the help of a fluke play and some horrible coaching) in the playoffs a few short years (but an NFL lifetime) ago. This is some Sunset Boulevard-level stuff. There's no charitable way to frame the Flacco trade logically. Elway thinks his Broncos are still one big splash away from a major comeback.<doc-sep>Former Ravens and Broncos LB Elvis Dumervil recently commented on the trade between his two former clubs. “It’s a big gamble—definitely desperate, no doubt,” Dumervil said. “It all depends on that running game and who is coaching them on the offensive side of the ball.” I’m completely in agreement with Dumervil for this part. As many of you know, I live right here in Colorado. I’ve experienced the years of everybody in this wonderful state praising Elway until their face turns blue. But I’m tired of hearing about the general manager who never prepared for a life without a Hall of Fame quarterback. After Manning retired, Elway attempted to sign Osweiler to a $13 million AAV contract in 2016. If not for the Texans inking Osweiler to a four-year/$72 million deal, we’d still be laughing about this. He acquired Paxton Lynch who has completely fizzled out of the league. Then, he signs Case Keenum to a two-year/$36 million deal. Yes, I know he signed Keenum as a stop-gap with upside but many critics knew Keenum wasn’t the reason for the Minnesota Vikings’ success. One year later, Elway trades for Flacco. So yes, the move is blatantly desperate and it’s not shade on Joe, it’s on Elway. Dumervil spent six seasons in Mile High before a bizarre fax machine mistake forced Denver to cut the pass rusher in 2013. After the mishap, Dumervil joined the Ravens on a five-year/$35 million deal (if he hit all incentives). Years later, after retiring in 2018, the linebacker is sharing his opinions with TMZ Sports. “I think Joe Flacco needs an offensive guru,” Dumervil said. “I don’t think he really had that in Baltimore, to his credit. But I do feel that, if he doesn’t have a coach who can coach him—the Sean Payton’s, the Josh McDaniel’s, these kind of guys, he’s going to fail miserably in Denver.” I think a lot of what Dumervil said is true, though a bit more harsh than I’d state. Fans of Flacco and his time with the Ravens heralded the addition of Gary Kubiak; he brought the offense to new heights. The team leaned on the running game and Kubiak schemed to Flacco’s strong suits. The running game was heavily utilized (Justin Forsett had 1266 yds. and eight rushing touchdowns) and Flacco finished with 3986 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns and only 12 interceptions. At the time, those were all career highs or tied for career highs for the quarterback. I believe Dumervil wasn’t trying to call out Flacco’s game. He was pointing towards Elway’s lack of plan after winning a championship with a top quarterback in NFL history. Now, he doesn’t have the advantages from years past and it’s showing.<doc-sep>One of the biggest questions on the minds of Broncos fans since the Joe Flacco trade has been; does this take quarterback off the board for John Elway at pick 10? For the second-straight year, the Broncos hold a top-10 Draft pick, which is a rare opportunity to strike on a young QB with franchise upside. Here’s the truth, based on what I’ve been told. The Broncos aren’t out of the QB sweepstakes at the top of the Draft, but one collateral blessing of the Flacco trade is that it takes pressure off of Elway to feel compelled to maneuver up the board and ‘sell the farm’ to secure one. However, if quarterback is still on the table for Denver at pick 10 overall, which one makes the most sense now that Flacco is in the fold? Nick Kendell published an excellent piece on Friday detailing the strengths, weaknesses and schematic fits of the ‘big three’ signal-callers in the Draft, and answered the most important question; which one could best be paired with Joe Flacco as the long-term successor? Although the interest is nothing new, some illuminating buzz has emerged on Missouri QB Drew Lock post-Senior Bowl. John Elway, Matt Russell and the entire Broncos’ scouting department was in Mobile to scout the senior All-Star game, and it wasn’t the first time Denver’s front-office czar traveled to get a closer look at Lock. However, according to NFL insider Benjamin Allbright, Elway had an exchange with Lock at the Senior Bowl that could give us a huge hint as to what the Broncos hope to see happen on Draft Day. “I can tell you they’re high on Drew Lock. High enough to take him? That’s the question,” Allbright said when he appeared on the Huddle Up Podcast on Thursday. “Elway, when he met with Drew Lock down there in Mobile, he told him he’s going to be a top-10 Draft pick. So they’re very high on him.” You can listen to the full conversation in the podcast embed below, but if what Allbright’s heard is true, and that exchange in fact took place, it doesn’t necessarily communicate a commitment on Elway’s part to draft Drew Lock. But if the Broncos have zero intention of taking Lock, it’s kind of an odd thing to say to a young prospect literally at the Senior Bowl because he’s unsure of what his NFL Draft stock is. The Denver Broncos are headed to the NFL Combine! Don’t miss out on any Broncos news and analysis, take a second to sign up for our FREE Broncos newsletter, delivered three times daily! If Lock and his representatives were 100 percent certain he was going top-10 in the Draft, believe me when I say that they wouldn’t risk participating in the Senior Bowl. He wouldn’t have made the trip. Going into Senior Bowl week, Lock’s camp might have had a feeling he’d be high-round caliber QB in the Draft, but even if, they would want to put in the pre-Draft work to ensure it. So Elway telling Lock that he’s cruising for a top-10 selection means something. Exactly what, I can’t be sure. But if we’re following the bread crumbs to try and deduce Elway’s intention in the Draft, this new Senior Bowl info — in combination with all the other Elway/Lock buzz — seems to put it in a more obvious context. Was Elway telling Drew Lock that if he’s there at pick 10, the Broncos are going to take him? I’ll let you be the judge of that. However, there’s a solid chance Lock won’t be there at 10. Kyler Murray re-committing publicly to the NFL helped buffer the odds that Lock might slip to the Broncos, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee it. The demand for quarterbacks remains high in the NFL, and this time around there are three who could hear their names called in the top-10, including Dwayne Haskins, Murray and Lock. We’ll see how this thing unfolds as we inch closer to the big day. Next up on the pre-Draft trail is the NFL Scouting Combine, held at the end of February, followed by college pro days and individual prospect visits to NFL team facilities. What are the odds that Drew Lock takes a visit to Dove Valley?<doc-sep>ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- John Elway has arrived at a critical juncture as top football executive for the Denver Broncos. When Elway took the job in 2011, he had somebody else's mess to clean up. The Broncos were coming off a 4-12 finish, head coach Josh McDaniels' firing and a spygate scandal. There was general pessimism regarding the direction of the franchise. Enter Elway, who hired John Fox, a been-around-the-block coach with a defensive background; signed future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning in 2012; and filled his draft classes with enough productive picks to win five consecutive AFC West titles. The Broncos reached two Super Bowls and won the franchise's third Lombardi trophy. 2019 NFL DRAFT What you need to know from Round 1: • DraftCast: Live pick-by-pick analysis » • Kiper's Top 300 » | McShay's Top 300 » • Best available prospects » | Full order » • More NFL draft coverage » 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. 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. 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." Step back and look at all that has happened in the past four seasons, and there are three major events that derailed the Broncos: Manning's retirement following an injury-marred 2015 season that ended with a Super Bowl 50 win. Gary Kubiak's health issues cut short what Elway had planned to be a long and fruitful career as Broncos coach. Kubiak was 21-11 with a title win in two seasons before he stepped away after the 2016 season. The 2016 and 2017 drafts caused a massive gap in the depth chart that the Broncos haven't been able to fill. The Broncos largely went for athletic potential over proven résumés in those two drafts and have not been rewarded for their efforts. They traded up to select quarterback Paxton Lynch in the first round in 2016 and he didn't pan out. A three-year effort to construct a scenario in which Lynch could win the starting job ended with Lynch going 0-for-3 in three training camps and being released last summer when he wasn't going to even be the No. 2 quarterback. Four of the eight picks from the 2017 class are no longer with the team. Just one -- left tackle Garett Bolles -- is a starter. Bolles is among the most penalized linemen in the league and has been inconsistent in his first two seasons. Earlier this year, Elway said: "As I said, I'm responsible too. We've got to take a look at ourselves, see what we're doing on the personnel side and try to get better there. We've got to look at it all." Last year's draft class was a return to the team's model earlier in Elway's tenure. The Broncos emphasized taking potential team captains and proven, multiyear starters and had one of the league's best rookie classes. All told, Elway, Fangio and the franchise are left trying to get back to the Broncos' legacy of success. Just like when Elway sat down at his desk for the first time nine seasons ago.<doc-sep>
Add another opinion to the pile on the Baltimore Ravens’ agreement to trade quarterback Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos. Former Ravens and Broncos pass rusher Elvis Dumervil has criticized Denver general manager John Elway for the deal. Talking to TMZ, Dumervil noted the trade was a “genius move by the Ravens.” He said the team could move on to Lamar Jackson while freeing up much-needed salary cap space. But he wasn’t nearly as nice about Denver’s prospects in the deal. “It’s a big gamble, definitely desperate — no doubt,” Dumervil said. “[Elway] did a genius move with Peyton Manning, but unfortunately, Joe Flacco’s no Peyton Manning.” It’s reported Baltimore will get Denver’s early fourth-round selection in exchange for Flacco. The Ravens will eat all of Flacco’s prorated bonus money, making his 2019 cap hit $18.5 million. However, something overlooked is that with the trade, Flacco’s deal becomes totally non-guaranteed. That allows Denver to cut him at any point with no repercussions to their salary cap total. If viewed as the Broncos getting a starting quarterback for one year at $18.5 million, the trade is far more favorable than at first glance. According to Spotrac, Flacco’s 2019 cap hit ranks No. 21 among all quarterbacks. That would make his cap number among the lowest for a starting quarterback not still on a rookie contract. When also considering Denver is likely to move on from quarterback Case Keenum, freeing up $11 million, Flacco’s cap hit effectively sits at only $7.5 million. Dumervil didn’t outright call the trade bad and said Flacco could still succeed with the Broncos. But it would take the right coach and situation to get the best from Flacco. “It all depends on that running game and who’s coaching him on the offensive side of the ball. It can be a great deal or it can be another bad decision by John Elway,” Dumervil said. “I think Joe Flacco needs an offensive guru. I don’t think he really had that in Baltimore, to his credit. But I do feel that if he doesn’t have a coach who can coach him — the Sean Paytons, the Josh McDaniels, these kinds of guys — he’s going to fail miserably in Denver.” Those in Baltimore have seen Flacco succeed. When given weapons and a good rushing attack, Flacco has led solid passing attacks, even if they were more conservative in today’s NFL. It’s when Flacco has had issues with protection and no sure-handed wide receivers that he’s struggled the most. Denver has had issues with their offensive line but has a wealth of talent at running back and wide receiver, which is something Flacco rarely had with the Ravens.