'We've gotten better as a football team': John Elway weighs in on first wave of free agency, looks ahead to NFL Draft

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Elway and the Broncos have assembled the first stages of their 2020 free-agent class with a limited staff, as NFL organizations allowed only essential personnel to be at team facilities in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.


"Our scouts haven't been here and they've been off the road, so there's a lot of information on the college side that we have not been getting," Elway said. "For the most part, the staff on the pro side has been in the office and so we're able to start this free-agent period, and we're excited about where we sit right now having it started a couple weeks ago and to be where we are right now, we're excited about it. Obviously it's a little bit different with a limited crew and a limited staff, but we've got a great staff and I'm really proud of everybody on my staff that we've been able to get to where we are right now."


The Broncos will now turn their attention to the 2020 NFL Draft, which is scheduled to begin on April 23.


"I think we feel like we can go into the draft and draft the best player possible that's going to be able to help our football team," Elway said. "So, I felt like we closed our glaring holes and therefore can go into the draft and try to pick the football players for the Broncos that are going to have a chance to have good, long careers."


In light of the NFL's announcement this week that all team facilities must close (with very limited exceptions) through at least April 8, Elway said it would be easier for the draft to be pushed back.


"Really, we feel pretty good about where we are," Elway said. "We'd rather have it backed up so we can get all our scouts and everybody in, but if it's limited and we can stay there and they're not going to move the draft, we're in good shape. I think that one of the reasons why, with I think the coaches not going to the Combine and them spending the whole week here just on the college side, it's put us way ahead there because we've got the coaches' rankings already. The scouts are already working on next year a little bit to the 2021 summer manual, so we feel like we're in pretty good shape. If it moves back, great, we're ready for that. If it doesn't move, then we'll be ready for that too."


Elway, who has a son-in-law in the medical field, also took time during the interview to thank those who are ensuring the public's safety during the novel coronavirus pandemic.


"All those hospital workers and the doctors and the nurses and everybody that's going through this, that's really the front line of this battle — and really, war. … So I'd just like to thank them for all that they're doing," Elway said. "My son-in-law is one of those. He's a doctor in Sacramento. He's one of those that's on the front line. They truly are the warriors. Just [want to] say thank you and [share our] continued support and we really appreciate it. And the great thing is, America is a great, great country. We will get through this. Obviously it's a scary time right now, but we're going to come out the other end a much better country than we are right now."