Englewood, Colo. • Count Denver Broncos rookie outside linebacker Jonah Elliss among fans of the NFL’s new kickoff rules.
Why? It offers the kind of close encounters a man of his position relishes.
“Honestly, I look at it as a pass rush because you’re right there with the guy,” said Elliss, the 21-year-old third-round pick out of Utah. “That’s how I address it. It’s just another pass-rush down to me.”
Viewed in that context, the opening kickoff of Sunday’s preseason victory over the Indianapolis Colts counted as another pass-rush win for Elliss in a growing collection of them during his first NFL training camp.
The 6-foot-2, 247-pound linebacker quickly zipped by Trevor Denbow, the 5-foot-10, 208-pound safety for the Colts. Anthony Gould, the 5-foot-8, 174-pound receiver who turned into the lead blocker when the kick went to teammate Dallis Flowers, wanted no part of chipping the speeding linebacker. His path clear, Elliss finished the play by tackling Flowers along the sideline.
“Special teams is how I see that I’m going to earn my spot on the team,” Elliss said. “Get on those special teams, that gets me on the (team) plane, and then I go from there, however coach (Sean Payton) sees fit. So I’m focused on special teams, doing my job on special teams, making plays on special teams so that they can trust me. That’s what special teams is, it’s trust. If the coach trusts you, it’s going to work out. I’m trying to earn that trust.”
If Sunday’s performance was any indication, Elliss is earning trust in ways that extend beyond his work on kickoff coverage.
He flashed defensively with a pressure late in the second quarter that forced an interception by Colts quarterback Sam Ehlinger. He was also credited with a sack in the third quarter when he chased quarterback Kedon Slovis across the field on third-and-14. He and Baron Browning brought pressure against Joe Flacco earlier in the game that led to an incompletion on third-and-7 and forced a field goal. In total, Elliss had four pressures in nine pass-rush snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
It all came on the heels of the rookie’s best week of camp, highlighted by a sack of Bo Nix during a red zone team drill Thursday that sent the defensive sideline into a fervor.
“He’s developing his rush plan,” Payton said Wednesday, noting he was also pleased with how Elliss played the run upon review of Sunday’s film. “He was speed and then he had a counter in college. He was speed, speed, speed with a spin. It’s adding power to that and developing a rush plan, and then it’s taking on the run whether it’s point of attack or backside.”
A post-practice scene Wednesday provided a reminder of how Elliss’ big-picture rush plan began. Luther Elliss, Jonah’s father and a 10-year NFL veteran who played his final season with the Broncos in 2004, was a visitor at practice and talked with his son afterward. It turns out that even hulking linebackers disappear into a hug when it’s a 6-foot-5, 300-pound former defensive end wrapping his arms around you.
Jonah Elliss is the fifth member of his family to play in the NFL — Luther Elliss and his brothers Kaden, Noah and Christian — and he’s had the benefit of sprinkling something into his game from each who played before him.
“Honestly, it comes from being around my brothers, my dad, seeing their motor,” Elliss said. “Watching and learning from them. I’m a visual learner, so when I see people working hard and doing that stuff, it makes me want to do it like them. Seeing how they worked, it was engrained in my system.”
The growth Elliss has shown across the past two weeks comes as third-year pass rusher Nik Bonitto continues to deal with a back injury that kept him out of Sunday’s preseason opener and Wednesday’s practice. Browning and Jonathon Cooper have proven to be Denver’s top edge rushers during camp, but there is an open path for contributions behind them. For Elliss to slide into that role, he’ll need to arm his rush plan with more counters — and the counters to the counters.
But Elliss has already shown that his foundation gives Denver a good starting point.
“It took him a little bit to get acclimated and just feel comfortable with this new system and stuff like that, but he’s doing good,” Cooper said. “Definitely impressed with him. He definitely handles it like a pro. He’s going about his meetings like a pro. I’m happy to see him progress and can’t wait to see what he does.”
Payton pleased with QBs as decisions loom
Payton on Wednesday sounded like a coach who isn’t eager to part with any of Denver’s quarterbacks when cuts arrive later this month.
“It’s a good group to work with. The offensive coaches feel that way and I feel that way,” Payton said of Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson. “I like where we’re at right now and that’s encouraging for our team. That’s encouraging for our team because when that’s not settled and that’s not as far along, then there’s a lot of things you can do well and yet the team sees that there is a ceiling, maybe, on what you can do.”
Though Wilson has largely been relegated to third-team work since the second week of camp, the staff has appreciated the growth it has seen from the fourth-year quarterback who is trying to reset after a rocky three-season tenure with the New York Jets. Payton said Wilson’s reps in Sunday’s game, all of which came in the second half, were “really good” and demonstrated “a poise because he’s been there.”
“I felt like he was real comfortable,” Payton said. “We were in and out of the huddle. There were no clock issues. All of that was smooth, and then his decision-making. He was aggressive. I like that he’s going to take shots. He’s got a good live arm. I thought he had a real good game and I’m encouraged. I like what I’m seeing.”
Nix began the work week piloting the first-team offense. Payton said that will continue for the rookie as the Broncos practice with the Green Bay Packers in a joint session Friday and then face them at Empower Field at Mile High Sunday night. He added that Stidham and Wilson will also get “lots of work,” in practice and in the game against the Packers.
The decision as to who will start in Seattle on Sept. 8 will come soon, and signs continue to point to Nix. But that’s not where the puzzle ends. Do the Broncos keep all three quarterbacks? If it’s only two, is it Stidham or Wilson? The pieces will come into focus soon, but it’s clear, at least for now, that Payton appreciates what Wilson has brought to the room.
“That position is so important and the focus on Bo, understandably so, (comes) when you draft a quarterback in the first round,” Payton said. “Every one of us understands and recognizes the significance of getting that position settled and having (in) that position who we feel we can win with. When that’s unsettled, it’s tough on your team. But I like the way (Wilson) played. You felt it on the sideline. You felt the experience and the poise.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.