Invisible Man In The Broncos Front Office

[listopencil]

I had meant to do this earlier but I lost the link to the article I wanted to use. During the whole Peyton Manning FA tour there were a lot of comments about the Denver FO, and I realized that there are a lot of misconceptions about how the team works in that regard. Yes, yes, I know. This is a Chiefs message board. Blah blah blah. The Broncos are your division rivals and, more to the point, signed a QB that some of you wanted the Chiefs to sign.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Head Coaches we have had since Bowlen bought the team. Bowlen has shown a troubling tendency to hand the team off to the HC and stand back. Then, without fail, when the team takes a nosedive or the HC does something stupid, Bowlen pops up and makes a show of firing the HC. There is one guy that is almost never mentioned though. Joe Ellis. He's been a strong influence on the Broncos for quite some time. He was with the team from 1983 to 1985 as Director of Marketing. But his real impact came in the late 90's.

In 1998 he came back to DEN as VP of Business Operations. In 2008 he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, the first COO that the team has ever had. Last year he was finally promoted to President. He quietly pulls strings and has taken a strong lead in the organization. So...yes, the pics you saw had Manning talking to Elway and Fox. I'm sure they did most of the talking. Our actual GM (Brian Xanders) doesn't come across well in person. He's a numbers guy, and a scout. Elway "called him out" during his initial press conference because he pretty much rolled over and allowed the power vacuum that led to McDaniels having too much control. You can bet that Ellis had a huge hand in firing McDaniels and setting up the current FO because of that. Elway-Fox-Xanders will run our draft (and our team) with Ellis looking over their shoulders, reporting only to Bowlen.

Here's a link: http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_20262277

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Not surprisingly, the idea of pursuing Peyton Manning was hatched in John Elway's office. It just wasn't Elway who had the idea.

"Joe Ellis was the first one to talk to me about it," Elway said

-snip-

"When a player of that magnitude becomes available, if you're not thinking about that player playing for your organization, you're not doing your fans justice," Ellis said.


...and that's probably all you might hear of him for quite a while unless something huge goes down again. That's how he is.

[the Talking Can]

incredibly unfascinating

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

incredibly unfascinating

So sorry I twisted your arm and made you click on this thread.

[Sofa King]

Not to be a dick, but I don't think anyone cares. Seriously.

[HemiEd]

I am not the one that cares.

[Sofa King]

The title should have been "Invisible Thread: No One Gives A Shit"

[ChiefGator]

I was mildly interested...

I still don't understand how Xanders kept his job though.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

Not to be a dick, but I don't think anyone cares. Seriously.

Not a big deal, I didn't expect a lot of interest in this thread. There were a few people in the sprawling Manning thread that had made some comments and asked some questions. I wanted to put this info in a thread for those people, and for my own benefit down the road when having conversations on here. This makes the info easier to link.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

Not to be a dick, but I don't think anyone cares. Seriously.

Listo is good people. I'll let him feel good about his team landing what was once one of the greatest QB's to ever play the game.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by ChiefGator

I was mildly interested...

I still don't understand how Xanders kept his job though.

He's a very good numbers guy and a decent scout. That's about it. This is supposed to be his chance to show Ellis that he can be a real GM.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Listo is good people. I'll let him feel good about his team landing what was once one of the greatest QB's to ever play the game.

Heh, no biggie really. I'm already surprised that the thread has this many responses.

[Mile High Mania]

I was expecting to see a picture taken of a window view that showed a ghost like young boy standing in the drapes like 3 Men and a Baby.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

I was expecting to see a picture taken of a window view that showed a ghost like young boy standing in the drapes like 3 Men and a Baby.

There was but The Man made me take it down.

[RealSNR]

I just posted a thread on all Broncos message boards talking about the quality behind-the-scenes work that Ray Farmer has done for the Chiefs organization throughout the years. They all loved it.

[bevischief]

Interesting.