Elway/Ellis/Shanahan and Dysfunction in the Broncos

Creating a new thread on this because it is an interesting story on how a franchise can end up in a mess - with no light at the end of the tunnel.

This is a story that has appeared in the media in Colorado over the last couple of days and the story has its origins in the firing of Mike Shanahan as HC of the Broncos in 2008.

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen relinquished control of the Denver Broncos to a trust controlled by Joe Ellis in 2014, but it is now clear that Bowlen was suffering serious effects from dementia as far back as 2008.

John Elway retired after the SB in January 1999 and in 2001 was offered an option to buy a stake in the Broncos and become a special assistant to Pat Bowlen. Elway gave serious consideration to the offer - but decided against it when his father Jack (chief scout for the Broncos) died a week before the 2001 draft (Jack Elway had targeted Drew Brees as the Broncos first round pick - after his death the Broncos went with Willie Middlebrooks - a bust at CB).

John Elway's close relationship with Pat Bowlen caused some tension with Mike Shanahan - Shanahan was concerned that Elway's presence around Dove Valley could have a destabilising effect on the team. Ellis was becoming more influential and played a major role in the new stadium which was being built in Denver. Throughout Shanahan's later years in Denver Joe Ellis was taking on more power and responsibility in the Broncos organisation as Pat Bowlen was suffering the effects of his illness.

In 2008 Shanahan and Ellis had a major falling out over attempts by Ellis to influence football decisions made by Shanahan. Bowlen had promised that Shanahan had a 'job for life' with the Broncos - after the 2008 season it appears Ellis used the tension between Shanahan and Elway to persuade an ailing Bowlen to sack Shanahan. It now appears that Ellis was primarily responsible for the sacking of Shanahan (whose final three years were not particularly remarkable).

McDaniels was Ellis's pick to replace Shanahan - he got Bowlen to sign off on the hire and McDaniels was picked because Ellis felt he could control McDaniels as a first time coach and influence football decisions. As part of bringing in McDaniels, Ellis also hired Brian Xanders and Matt Russell - two people seen as 'yes' men for Ellis. The only problem was that McDaniels was uncontrollable - he was rash, volatile and threw temper tantrums (and yes NE fans - this is being reported as coming from reputable sources within the Broncos in the last few days). Ellis had messed up, the fans were out for blood and he needed to get people back onside to protect his role and influence.

The solution was hiring Elway as head of football operations. Getting the fans back onside by using a Broncos legend. By now Bowlen's health has deteriorated and while he was still officially the owner, Ellis was making all the financial decisions affecting the franchise. Elway had some initial leeway - picking Fox as HC who stabilised the Broncos and signing Peyton Manning (a major FA coup for the team). But Elway was limited in what he could do by the presence of Xanders and Russell who reported directly to Ellis.

Move forward to 2014 - Bowlen has relinquished control to Ellis and Elway now had to address the new power structure in the team. After firing Fox, Elway hires Gary Kubiak as HC. The bulk of the coaching staff hired had previously worked with Kubiak in Houston and/or in Balitmore. Ellis, through Matt Russell, promoted the case for hiring Vance Joseph as DC - Russell went to the University of Colorado with Joseph. The hiring fell through when the Bengals wouldn't release Joseph from his contract. The Broncos went to plan B and hired Wade Phillips.

After Kubiak retired after the 2016, Vance Joseph was fast-tracked as the Broncos new head coach. Matt Russell, with the support of Ellis, pushed for Joseph's appointment. Elway was onboard - until he interviewed Kyle Shanahan. By all accounts Shanahan blew the interview out of the water, showing an impressive command of the job and his plans. Shanahan was so impressive that Elway began considering offering Kyle Shanahan the job rather than Joseph. In stepped Ellis - Kyle Shanahan has a close relationship with his father Mike, and they apparently talk every day about football. Ellis did not want any connection with Mike Shanahan and the Broncos - he used the close relationship between Kyle and Mike to shaft Kyle Shanahan for the Broncos job, persuading Elway that it was the wrong decision (ably abetted by Matt Russell)

While this process was underway, things began to come apart at the seams in relation to the ownership of the franchise. Ellis was controlling the trust and, reportedly, playing different elements of the Bowlen family off one another - all designed to indicate that none of the siblings were showing the necessary skills and thereby maintaining the trust's control over the team.

It has been clear to all and sundry from very early in his tenure that the decision to hire Vance Joseph over Kyle Shanahan was the wrong decision. Elway brought Kubiak back into the team to try and help stabilise things. Despite Kubiak taking over all the responsibilities of Matt Russell, Ellis ensures his side-kick is maintained (there isn't a single Broncos fan that understands why Matt Russell still has a job with the Broncos - but the revelations of the last couple of days have shed a new light on it).

Over the past three years Elway and Mike Shanahan have re-established their relationship - regularly meeting for dinner and discussing football. At the end of last season Elway decided that major changes needed to be made - the first being the sacking of Vance Joseph.

New revelations have come out yesterday about Elway's strategy for replacing Joseph last season. Elway recognised the need for a QB and targeted Kirk Cousins as the man for the job - with Cousins as a FA last season Elway turned to Mike Shanahan for help. In 2012 draft Shanahan's Redskins traded away multiple picks to draft RG3 - Shanahan didn't want RG3 - the QB he targeted in the draft was Kirk Cousins, who Shanahan took in the 4th round.

As Elway and Shanahan discussed the state of the Broncos, Elway proposed to Shanahan that he return as Broncos HC. A series of meetings took place involving Shanahan, Cousins and Gary Kubiak. After a meeting on 29 December lasting more than 10 hours - Elway and Shanahan agreed a three year deal for Shanahan to return as HC of the Broncos - Shanahan had persuaded Kirk Cousins to sign for the Broncos on terms reputed to be $10million a year less than the contract he signed with the Vikings (sources are quoting a 3 year / $58million deal because Cousins wanted to play for Shanahan). And Kubiak agreed to return as OC for the Broncos under Shanahan. As the 10 hour meeting ended - Shanahan is reputed to have said 'this could work' - but don't expect Ellis to sign off on it.

In steps Joe Ellis - after promising Elway never to interfere in football decisions - Ellis vetoed the appointment of Mike Shanahan as HC. Ellis's animosity towards Shanahan dating back to 2008 still festers. Ellis gave Elway a choice - sack Joseph replacing him with anyone other than Shanahan - or keep Joseph and sign any QB not named Kirk Cousins. This led to the now infamous in Broncos history - Elway 'sleeping' on his decision - except the decision was not whether to sack Joseph and replace him with Shanahan - it was whether to sack Joseph and start from scratch or keep him.

Joseph has been pretty much sidelined all season in terms of the Broncos - he played no role in the draft and has looked like a busted flush all season. He has been a dead man walking for the past two weeks and he knows it. The question now is where do the Broncos go from here.

Behind all of this is the conflict over ownership - Beth Bowlen and her uncle (Pat Bowlen's brother) have initiated legal action to remove Ellis from control of the trust. Ellis is reputed to want Brittany Bowlen to take the ownership - but not for another five years. And given that Brittany Bowlen is the youngest of the siblings at 28 - the suggestion is that Ellis wants Brittany Bowlen because he can still control the levers of power behind the scene.

A lot of this stuff has only become public knowledge in the past two days. Two longstanding journalists who are regarded as having close connections inside the Broncos have started to write about how dysfunctional the Broncos have become. This seems to be part of what is now an open power struggle between Elway and Ellis with the ownership struggle going on in the background. The suggestion is that this 'leak' has come directly from Elway - and that Elway is fed up of Ellis interfering with football decisions. This is not to say that Elway is blameless in this whole process - but Ellis is on thin ice at the moment. Ellis has made an absolute bags of the naming rights for the stadium and this is causing financial issues for the Broncos - coupled with the perception that Ellis is engaged in a power grab and possibly wants to shaft Elway as GM.

As all this plays out the entire franchise is looking a total mess - a mess that, unfortunately, has been caused by Bowlen's illness and its impact going back to 2008. Bowlen's decision to set up a trust was a mistake - and a bigger mistake was putting Ellis in charge of it. The best thing could well have been to have sold the team in 2015 - with Manning leading a consortium that wanted to buy it.