The New York Jets have reportedly hired Denver Broncos assistant GM Darren Mougey as their new general manager. The move comes on the heels of three branches of the John Elway front-office tree growing to become bonafide NFL GMs, including Mougey, Adam Peters of the Washington Commanders , and John Spytek, the newly-minted with the Las Vegas Raiders .
Peters, Spytek, and Mougey going on to become NFL general managers is quite something. It runs counter to the tropes that John Elway was an incompetent GM during the second half of his decade-plus run at the position in Denver.
Elway’s critics grudgingly give him credit for the Peyton Manning years, which included four AFC West crowns, two AFC championships, and one World Championship. Even then, people are more inclined to credit the Manning years to a happy-go-lucky Elway somehow stumbling into landing the biggest free-agent fish in NFL history, instead of giving him the plaudits he deserves for successfully recruiting him and painting the vision of what would be possible for ‘The Sheriff’ in Denver…