One of John Elway’s former Broncos teammates thinks Elway doesn’t have what it takes to lead the team back to the top.
Mark Schlereth, who blocked for Elway in both of his Super Bowl-winning seasons as the Broncos’ quarterback, believes that Elway has made one good move in his time running the Broncos -- convincing Peyton Manning to sign in Denver as a free agent -- and has otherwise been a failure.
“Do I trust him to fix what’s gone wrong? No. I mean, how did he fix it in the first place? He found himself a unicorn, Peyton Manning,” Schlereth said on FS1. “Peyton Manning makes up for a multitude of sins. All the quarterbacks he’s gotten after don’t.”
Schlereth said Elway has built a roster lacking in depth and talent, and he singled out left tackle Garrett Bolles, whom Elway drafted in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft, as a player who’s only on the roster because Elway can’t admit he was wrong to pick him. Schlereth said that Bolles is playing so poorly, the rest of the team resents it.
“You think you can continue to run him out and not every guy in that locker room’s pissed off? Why is he on this team? Why is he playing?” Schlereth said. “Because he was my first-round pick and I’m going to prove I got it right.”
Those are harsh words, but it’s hard to disagree with Schlereth’s point. The Broncos still haven’t made the playoffs since Manning retired, and Elway is showing no evidence that he knows how to get them back to the postseason.