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The Denver Broncos did not plan on taking a quarterback in the first round of the draft.
In fact, Peter King reports in his Football Morning In America column, if the Broncos hadn't traded down with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, it would have been Michigan's Devin Bush, not Iowa's Noah Fant, putting on a Broncos hat on while walking onto that stage.
And when that round ended, Elway certainly had no intention of being aggressive to acquire Drew Lock.
“Our comfort with Joe enabled us to pass on a quarterback,” Elway told King after the conclusion of the NFL Draft's first round. “What made that decision is, Joe is fitting really well with what we want to do offensively, and he looked great in our minicamp last week. He really put on a throwing exhibition last week in camp. I truly think we’ve got a guy coming into his prime.”
Of course, when two players the team had been very high on entering the draft — Lock and Kansas State's Dalton Risner — were still available at Denver's first selection of the second round, those plans must've changed. Risner was their pick at 41. Elway worked on the Bengals, at 42, and finally struck a deal to move from 51 to 42 in exchange for fourth and sixth-round picks, where he selected Lock.
Elway almost certainly believes Flacco has plenty of gas left in his tank. But, Elway also knows if you don’t have your long-term guy at quarterback, you’re perpetually searching for him. Lock was his number one quarterback in this draft. If you can get that guy at 42nd overall, you jump on it.
