John Elway was a strong-armed, mobile quarterback for the Broncos during his playing days and he had a chance to select a similar player when he was the team’s General Manager in 2018.
The Broncos had the fifth overall pick and Josh Allen was on the board when they went on the clock. Elway opted to take edge rusher Bradley Chubb and Allen fell to the Bills with the seventh overall pick, which was a decision that Elway discussed during an appearance on Pardon My Take this week.
Elway said he recently played golf with Allen and that it took the Bills quarterback “two and a half holes” to realize the Broncos had a chance to draft him. He then referred to it as perhaps his biggest blunder as an executive.
“I loved him. But it just didn’t work out,” Elway said. “He was my type. That was probably my biggest mistake of my G.M. days, was not taking Josh.”
The Broncos had taken Paxton Lynch in the first round of the 2016 draft and the tall Memphis product did not pan out. That led the Broncos to sign Case Keenum earlier in 2018 and the two moves may have contributed to Elway’s decision to pass on Allen, although he also seemed to really like Chubb.
Bills G.M. Brandon Beane said in 2018 that he and Elway had discussed a trade that would have move the Bills into the No. 5 spot, but Elway passed because he didn’t want to risk missing out on Chubb. While Chubb turned out to be a fine player, the Broncos have been searching for the right answer at quarterback throughout Allen’s career and that makes passing on him all the more painful.