John Elway Breaks Down Broncos' Big Offseason Priorities

If you ask John Elway, the Denver Broncos had a "great year" with Sean Payton at head coach and Bo Nix at quarterback. The Broncos won 10 games and made the playoffs, defying the oddsmakers and nearly all external expectations.

The 2024 season didn't start out with a bang, as the Broncos opened up the season 0-2. But steadily, Nix found his NFL footing and by Week 5, it seemed that Payton had begun to take the training wheels off bit by bit.

In remarks given to 9NEWS' Mike Klis, Elway shared his insights on how that unfolded for Nix and Payton.

“I think they had a great year,’’ Elway said via Klis. “From where they were and what the expectations were, obviously, it was a disappointing finish, I think they got exposed there. But they played much better defense than people thought, which kept them in it. Which was great because that allowed Sean to bring Bo (Nix, the Broncos’ rookie quarterback along at the right speed. Sean’s good at that. He stays disciplined to what he believes. He was not going to overextend Bo early and expose him to things that would have been tough for a rookie to handle. And then you could see the confidence grow as the season went on and take on more of the offense and do some different things.

Despite the hue and cry from Broncos Country in the first quarter of the season, Payton did stay committed to his step-by-step approach with Nix. And it ended up paying off in spades, not only for the Broncos, but for Nix, who turned in a historic rookie season.

Nix joined Elway as the only Broncos rookie quarterbacks to start a playoff game, and he broke all the franchise passing records for a first-year player. As Payton said during his end-of-season presser, with Nix in the fold and having that difficult rookie year under his belt, the Broncos have "everything in front" of them.

Elway concurs, but he sees a dire need for playmakers on offense.

“I think they’re set up. I think they’re in great shape. They’ll get rid of some of that dead money and continue to draft and build on it... They need some playmakers, right? They need a tight end that can stretch the field a little bit. Their backs came on a little bit and hopefully they can mature. But they need that receiver out of the backfield that Sean likes, that Joker position that he likes. Marvin started to make some plays for them but they could use a little bit more speed out there.”

Running back, tight end, and wide receiver are three of the Broncos' consensus big roster needs. But Elway really honed in on the Broncos finding a pass-catching running back and a tight end to "stretch the field." The Broncos hoped they had that in Greg Dulcich, but after multiple injuries, he failed to launch, and the team waived the former third-round pick mid-season.

Holding the No. 20 overall pick in the first round, the Broncos will have some great options to fill this need. When it comes to tight end, Penn State's Tyler Warren and Michigan's Colston Loveland have been commonly mocked to the Broncos at No. 20. We've also seen Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty mocked to Denver by some big-name draft insiders.

The Broncos hold a mostly full slate of draft picks and are sitting on $35.7M in effective salary-cap space. The resources are there to build on what Elway described as a Broncos squad that's in "great shape" entering the 2025 offseason.