The Broncos don’t need another first-round edge rusher. They need an exorcist. Because years after John Elway left the building, The Ghost of Josh Allen still haunts the dang place.
The specter of big No. 17, dressed in a tattered Orange & Blue jersey that never was, passes through walls at Dove Valley, rattling his first-down chains in the dead of night, wailing like a banshee at the stars shining back from an arid sky.
The creaks and howls pick up at this time of year. The real-life Allen just played in his 10th NFL playoff game since January 2020 with Buffalo, his real-life team.
Hindsight makes geniuses of us all. But in a bit of drafting karma that the football gods still hold against the Broncos like an unpliable grudge, the ex-Wyoming quarterback once dangled for Denver to take with the No. 5 selection in the 2018 NFL draft.
You know the rest of the story by heart. Or, at least, by the shattered pieces of what’s left of it. Elway, then the Broncos GM, chose to pluck North Carolina State outside linebacker Bradley Chubb instead. Allen went at No. 7 — more karmic irony for Elway — to the Bills, who said “thanks much,” and laughed all the way to the bank.
While Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes seem to own Allen in the postseason, the fact remains: Buffalo’s signal-caller has now appeared in as many postseason games since 2019 as the Orange & Blue amassed from 2007 to 2015. And has piled up almost as many playoff wins (five for Allen; six for the Broncos) in those 10 tilts.
“We have to make sure that we have the most dangerous pass rush in the NFL,” Chubb said on a conference call after the Broncos brought him on board. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
Y’all know the rest of this one, too. The premise was Chubb on one side, Von Miller on the other, and the mother of all sack parties for years to come. The reality is that the pair alternated injuries and only wound up playing in 22 games together from 2018 to ’21.
Meanwhile, the Broncos kept whiffing at quarterback and head coach, necessitating a trade in November 2021 that sent Miller, a Mile High pillar, to the Rams.
The Vonster turned the move into another ring. The Broncos turned it into Russell Wilson.
We mention this because, as mock draft season kicks into fifth gear, the smarter kids in the room, along with Mel Kiper Jr., project the Broncos using pick No. 12 this April to pull another Chubb, to double down on what they’ve already got:
ESPN/Kiper Jr. — Laiatu Latu, UCLA edge rusher
CBS Sports — Terrion Arnold, Alabama CB
NFL Network/Bucky Brooks — Terrion Arnold, Alabama CB
NFL Network/Daniel Jeremiah — Terrion Arnold, Alabama CB
Ourlads.com — Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama CB
Sensible? Sure. Wise? Heck, no.
Lord help coach/secret GM/mortgage pitchman Sean Payton if he took the “best player available,” one of the above, then had the temerity to spin it as such while quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix, or J.J. McCarthy happened to still be on the table.
The Broncos haven’t had a first-round pick since 2021. They need help everywhere. The talent on this roster stacks up with the two-deep of the Lions the way I stack up with Jason Momoa in a swimsuit contest.
If it’s my money, the best three options for the Broncos at 12 are no-brainers:
1. Take the best QB on the board.
2. Take the best tight end on the board, but only if said tight end is Brock Bowers.
3. Trade the heck down and gobble up more picks.
If I can’t land bona-fide, home-run quality for my offense, fine. Get me quantity. Lord knows I need the latter.
What the Broncos don’t need is one of George Paton’s tired, cliched scouting excuses. No more, “You can’t have too much of ‘X,’” or, “We feel we now have the best tandem at ‘Y,’” when neither ‘X’ nor ‘Y’ moves the needle the way a quarterback does in this league.
And yes, pairing either McKinstry or Arnold at cornerback opposite Pat Surtain II could, on paper, portend a second coming of the “No-Fly Zone.” It might even keep Mahomes and Reid up at night. It certainly gives you more ammo in a division that just got nastier with the Chargers getting off their powder blue duffs to pair Jim Harbaugh with Justin Herbert.
But all the noble intent in the world won’t exorcise the spirits of quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, who could’ve been yours. From 2018 to 2021, the Broncos had picks 5, 20, 15 and 9 in the first round. They tapped Chubb, tight end Noah Fant, wideout Jerry Jeudy and PS2. So, Pro Bowler, decent player, inconsistent player and Pro Bowler, respectively.
But in doing so, they also passed on six quarterbacks who were still on the board on the first night of the draft: Allen (who went to Buffalo), Josh Rosen (Arizona) and Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) in ’18; Jordan Love (Green Bay) in ’20; and Justin Fields (Chicago) and Mac Jones (New England) in ’21. Of those six, four helped steer their respective franchises to the postseason within two years of being selected. Allen hasn’t missed the playoffs since he was a rookie in 2018.
As a philosophy, “best player available” might have a high floor. It also comes with the potential for a cramped, low ceiling. Payton wasn’t a part of that history here. But if he turns a blind, stubborn eye to precedent, he could darn well find himself doomed to repeat it.
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