John Elway is driven.
As a quarterback, Elway amassed, according to Pro Football Reference, 40 comeback game-winning drives, which ranks his No. 7 in NFL history.
“The Drive’’ in Cleveland is John’s most unbelievable, but his fourth-quarter drive against the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII is the most impactful in Broncos chronicles.
Following franchise fiasco and failure, Elway eventually did make another comeback on Jan. 4, 2011, as head of the Broncos’ football operations, and he has driven the Broncos to five playoff seasons and appearances in two more Super Bowls, which has been exceeded only by the Patriots.
In the past four years, though, the Broncos under Elway have become herbaceous, dying at each season’s end.
Can Elway, in his 10th season (assuming there will be one in September or later) as Broncos Boss, produce a final comeback?
Elway, who was born in 1960, will turn 60 on June 28.
The Duke is determined to drive the Broncos to return to glory (or, at least respectability), then ride off into the sunset.
John’s reputation in Colorado has been blemished by recent results and un-Elway wayward decisions — Vance Joseph as coach and Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco and a half-dozen other lousy quarterbacks, and other multiple draft choices who have flopped.
But Elway already has earned perpetual stature and a permanent statue that should be placed outside the stadium, downtown on the 16th Street Mall or in Denver International Airport outside the restaurant bearing his name.
If the Broncos do rebuild, a word John refuses to utter, and challenge the world champion Chiefs, who have won nine straight times in embarrassing fashion in the storied rivalry, in the division and reach the expanded playoffs, and perhaps ascend to a ninth Super Bowl sometime soon, Elway will deserve more.
Mount Evans, appallingly named by the state legislature for a dishonored territory governor, should then be changed to Mount Elway.
John is continuing to make the comeback climb in this offseason.
After the latest re-signing of defensive lineman Shelby Harris on Friday night, I would grade Elway’s free agency with a “B+’’ that could rise to an “A’’ with an outstanding collegiate draft a month from now.
Nationally the Broncos have been downgraded because of a two-year, $16 million deal officially agreed upon Thursday with free agent running back Melvin Gordon III, late of the Chargers. The belief is Gordon, who has accumulated 6,113 rushing and receiving yards and 47 touchdowns in five seasons, is done. Untrue. Melvin will be 27 on April 13. If he hadn’t held out for the first four games in ’19, he definitely would have approached another 1,000-yard double-threat level.
The Broncos will display the boom-and-blast duo with two-time Pro Bowler Gordon and one-time Pro Bowler Phillip Lindsay.
The other Harris — Chris Jr. moved to Gordon’s former team — was a bargain basement Broncos bonus after he couldn’t find a team willing to pay big money to an underappreciated player. In another addition to the defensive line, the Broncos pilfered (for a last-round pick) Pro Bowler Jurrell Casey from the Titans, and they traded for ex-Pro Bowl cornerback A.J. Bouye (fourth-round selection). Graham Glasgow, who will be a starter at right guard or center, extracted a four-year, $44 mil pact from the Broncos.
Value tight end Nick Vannett was signed, and Jeff Driskel, mostly known as the Florida Gators’ starter in the Sugar Bowl, joined the Broncos as a rarely utilized, second- and third-string QB with three NFL teams. The Broncos hope that with Drew Lock, Driskel never plays.
Veteran free agent punter Sam Martin certainly is an improvement over Colby Wadman — who doth protest too much on social media. The Broncos also brought back cornerback De’Vante Bausby, the AAF refugee who was fine until being sidelined by a spine sprain. They also gave special teams specialist Joe Jones and nose tackle Joel Heath one-year make-good contracts. I’ve never heard of the heavy Heath bar.
Elway, et al., can concentrate in the draft on two wide receivers, an offensive tackle and a center, a defensive end, an inside linebacker, another safety and two more cornerbacks.
In the first round a wide receiver or an offensive lineman will be chosen, and John The Draft Dealer will trade up in the second, as he did last year, to acquire someone at the position not selected at 15th overall.
Drive on, John says.
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