A Trade The Cardinals Exclusive: Stolen Valor and John Elway

The year was 2012 and the people of Denver were celebrating the success of their recent progressive parlay like it was Y2K all over again. In the last twelve months Obama had been elected to his second term in office, recreational cannabis was legalized in the state of Colorado, and the Denver broncos had hired their favorite Quarterback John Elway to be their general manager. In turn Elway had hired the best free agent quarterback on the market. Yes, 2012 was the best year for Bronco's fans since 1999 when Elway had led them to their second consecutive Super Bowl victory as the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. There was nothing but optimism and the smoke of Marten Milk Kush in the thin Rocky Mountain air in 2012. Yes! Progress had been made and this would surely continue for another fifteen years, just like the last time Elway had taken over the team. Or so Broncos fans around the globe had thought. Any other outcome at that time was unfathomable, however, fate would have a different trajectory for the Denver Broncos and their fans.

By 2018 John Elway was believed to have the best winning % of a General Manager in his first 100 games managed ever. During that time frame he had generally managed the Denver Broncos to the third best winning percentage in the league and was generally considered to be one of the best General Managers in recent NFL history. By the 2021 season, John Elway had the fourth highest winning % as a GM in the league during the same time frame. Yet, after the 2020-2021 season it was announced that John Elway would step down from the General Manager position and slide into an advisory role. After only ten short seasons Denver’s all-time favorite quarterback fell out of favor with the equity component of the team. How could this have happened so suddenly and so quickly? The news was received by NFL media as a normal occurrence and it was widely reported and retired without further consideration.

Not at Trade The Cardinals. We had long had our suspicions dating back to the Brock Osweiler rehire. When the news was announced, we knew that it was finally time to begin our deeper investigation. Jonah’s wife would be pissed at him but the people of Denver and Broncos fans globally deserved to know the truth. A year into our investigation and two thirds of the way through the first season of the Russell Wilson era we are finally ready to begin presenting our findings to the public.

What follows is part one of a two part series investigating and documenting the rise and fall of John Elway and how the Quarterbacks he signed to the Broncos stable became collateral damage in his ploy to steal valor from the current herd of Quarterbacks. Make no mistake, what has happened to the Broncos stable of Quarterbacks may be one of the greatest thefts in professional sports history and it has gone entirely unreported. Until now that is. Broncos fans you may want to sit down for this and grab some mescal or a bowl of Marten Milk Kush for part one of this Trade The Cardinals Exclusive Report.

Part 1: The Elway/Manning Era

When John Elway had first signed on to become the General Manager for the Denver Broncos his decision was entirely motivated by his desire to get back on the horse and win another NFL Championship. Sources close to Elway say that after owning the local Denver franchise of the Arena Football League, The Colorado Crush, John Elway became obsessed with the possibility of becoming the General Manager of the Broncos. Having been born too early to sign a mega contract like Quarterbacks have signed in recent years, Elway would never be able to afford an NFL franchise. General Manager, however, was very reasonable. Especially since he was still beloved within the Broncos organization and he had won a championship as an owner in the AFL before the league shuttered. While it would take up most of his time, this was a tradeoff that Elway was willing to make as he was obsessed with chasing the high from the 1999 Superbowl victory.

Coming back into the Bronco's organization John Elway wanted to let the people know that their favorite Quarterback was back to right the ship once again. The best way to do this? Obtain a quarterback. There was no way around it. After watching Tim Tebow and Kyle Orton the season before, everyone in the organization was left with what ifs. What if Tebow was a better passer? What if Tebow had been able to build off his Wildcard victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers? What if there was a veteran quarterback under center? There was really only one quarterback who would satisfy the what iffers, Peyton Manning.

After an extended planned time off that lasted the entire 2011 season Peyton Manning was fully recovered from his neck surgery and the former Colts Quarterback was the hottest free agent on the market. Manning wanted to win, Elway wanted to win, and the Broncos wanted to make money. Everyone won by signing this contract and everyone would continue to win as Peyton would lead the Broncos to two superbowls and one superbowl victory over the next four seasons. But it wasn't a linear path to success.

In the first season of the Elway/Manning era the Broncos had success but were ultimately thwarted by then elite quarterback Joe Flacco who had dropped a 70 yard hellfire missile for a touchdown bomb with 30 seconds left in the game to send it to overtime. The stars had aligned over Denver that game, but they prophesied a winning tale for the visiting team. The Ravens would go on to win that game in overtime and continue their winning streak through the Superbowl against the 49ers.

At the start of the 2013 season it was clear that Manning was on a different level after he curb stomped the Ravens in week one and threw a casual seven touchdowns to a collection of Thomases. Manning would go on to shatter all of Elway's records this season but ultimately he would fall short in the Superbowl against the Seahawks. Sources have said that while it was hard for Elway to see Manning shatter all of his records that year, he was ultimately the most excited in the organization to be back in the Superbowl. Yes, he had finally tasted that familiar taste on his gums and was close to the pinnacle of success once again. It had cost him a lot but being in that Superbowl was the closest Elway had gotten to catching that dragon he had been chasing since 1999. Yet if they couldn't win in 2013 when Manning was at his all time best, when could they win?

With two years left on his contract and nearing forty years old the window was quickly closing on Manning. Even after the huge let down from the season before expectations were still mile high in Denver. Unfortunately, Manning came back down to earth and failed to repeat his legendary performance from the season before. Manning had an average season resulting in 39 touchdowns and a final record of 12-4 giving them home field advantage in the divisional round of the playoffs. Yet even with three years at the helm, greater investment in defense, and home field advantage the Broncos were still bested by the Colts 24-13. Elway was livid. Three years of chasing the dragon and it was seemingly slipping further and further away. This was it for the Elway/Manning era. One last run.

The 2015 season was poetic for the Broncos. Okay in hindsight it was poetic. During the season it was stress and anxiety. The Broncos started off 7-2 but they had competed in close games and had even been taken to overtime by the Cleveland Browns who finshed the season 3-13. Peyton was benched in week 10 after throwing four interceptions to the San Diego Chargers before the end of the third quarter. The first benching of his career. Finishing the season boasting a stat line of 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions the Manning/Elway prophecy was in jeopardy. We would later learn that Manning had a maimed plantar fasciitis and would require intensive physical therapy over the remainder of the season. Everything seemed in Jeopardy for the Broncos. Manning was boasting a stat line of 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions through 10 games and it was unclear that even if he was healthy to return that he would be the better quarterback. Things were bleak. Brock Osweiler would go on to start the rest of the season and it appeared that he was going to be the starting quarterback heading into the playoffs.

But the stars had aligned over Denver at the end of the season just like they had years ago. However instead of detailing the success of Joe Flacco it was finally Manings turn in Denver. In week 17 the Broncos had four turnovers in the first half of their game against the San Diego chargers. Per Kubiak dictate, when an offense has four turnovers in a game a new QB must take the helm. And so Peyton returned to the playing field to a thunderous applause and would lead the Broncos to a victory over Philip Rivers and the Chargers. It was meant to be. Manning would start under center throughout the playoffs and lead the Broncos to victories over all the elite quartberacks that post season including Rothlisberger, Brady, and finally Cam Newton in the Superbowl.

At long last, at the conclusion of the 2015-2016 season Elway had won his first Super Bowl as a General Manager and his third in some formal capacity of the Denver Broncos Organization. Elway was so high on life he might as well have been on a different planet. Seriously. Sources close to Elway say they had never seen that look on his face before. That look in his eyes. Possessed by a power greater than they had ever seen before, Elway was a different man. Locked away in that room in his head where he refused to come down, Elway floated through the next half hour in a tantric state unresponsive to his friends and family celebrating his success around him. He had finally done it and now he would reap what he had sown. The final seconds of the clock running out were like a plunger forcing a foreign substance into Elway's vein. That foreign substance that Elway had been chasing all these years. 16 long years. Superbowl Victory. And so Elway floated somewhere way up above mile high stadium in a place where only he had been before and he never wanted to leave that place. It had been so long since he had this feeling it almost seemed like a dream. But it wasn't a dream, Elway had finally done it.

Had the excitement been any less, more people may have noticed the switch that flipped in Elway when receiving the Lombardi trophy. Standing on stage next to Commissioner Goodell and Peyton Manning, Elway finally came back down to earth with the confetti falling from the upper decks. Goodell had been waxing poetic about the Broncos and their legendary quarterbacks when it happened. He had proudly announced how honored he was to be handing the Lombardi trophy to the best Quarterback to have ever played in Denver when he turned to his left and passed the trophy to Manning spurning Elway on his right. Subsequently Goodell presented the Superbowl MVP to Von Miller. While the disappointment in Elway's face was brief and only lasted a second it was unmistakable. It was quickly overcome with solitude but make no mistake about it there was nothing but rage under his mask. No one would see him weep. No one would see him cry. Next thing he knew, Elway had started going through withdrawals. It was in this moment that Elway had realized that he hadn't been chasing another Superbowl victory. No, he was chasing the Superbowl MVP. True to script of an addict Elway was hooked on the best high there was, the Superbowl MVP and the prestige that came with being the only quarterback in Denver who had brought the Lombardi trophy to the city. Winning a superbowl was great. But 53 other men would share the same honor that year just as they had in 1998 and just like they had in 1999. This was not enough success for Elway. No, what he wanted was to be the Superbowl MVP and when he saw Miller holding the MVP trophy he was overcome by a vindictive jealousy. He had tasted the MVP once before and it was the MVP that he needed to taste again. He was a man possessed.

Most observers were caught up in the excitement of the celebrations and didn't see Elway leave the stage or where he went next. His withdrawal symptoms were worsening and he needed to make a quick escape and get somewhere safe. We have yet to find out where he went directly after the game but we learned that he would resurface in the early morning at one of his Elway Steakhouses. We are told by the wait staff at that Elway's location that he had spent an unknown amount of sleepless nights in the back of that Elway's. Hidden away in a room that only he had a key to, he would ring a service bell when he needed a new bottle of booze to be left outside of the door. There was no commotion coming from that that room during those days and nights. Only the faint ringing of a bell. When Elway finally left his steakhouse Peyton was dead to him and Elway was lost in his head. “He's retired. We're on to 2017,” he would say when asked if Peyton was interested in one last run by fans or colleagues. No, Elway had not spent those sleepless nights fruitlessly scheming. Elway had devised a plan. It was time. Perhaps deep down he had known this was what he truly had wanted all along dating back to when he was first hired. Perhaps that's why he had drafted Brock Osweiler. Regardless, having brought home the third Lombardi trophy to Denver and the first one in 16 years, he decided he had at least another 16 years to burn before he would have to bring on another Quarterback capable of leading them to the Championship. So he did what any vindictive jealous ex would do in his situation, draft Paxton lynch. It was time for Denver to remember the name Elway.

Here part one of this two part series nears its end. In part two we will expose the scheme devised by Elway to steal valor from the recent stable of Bronco's quarterbacks which includes names such as Trevor Siemian, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien, and many many more. Elway's fall from grace was unfathomable in 2012 but in hindsight the signs were always there. Stolen valor is a serious offense and as we stated before this may be one of the greatest heists in professional sports history. Lastly, before we close things in part one, we would be remiss to not comment on the current Denver Bronco's campaign.

There are plans and then there are journeys. Whatever plans the envious and two faced Elway had cooked up for when Peyton retired has now fully morphed into a spiritual malaise that has spread across Broncos Country and its great fans. It is December 4, 2022, and the Broncos have just lost 10-9 to the Baltimore Ravens. They have clinched their sixth consecutive losing season. The Broncos have as many losing seasons in the last six years as they did in the previous forty-two years, many of those years with Elway behind the center. They now sit at 3-9 and their inevitable high first round pick in the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and the ultimate Gum Murderer, Pete Carroll, who after finally smacking away all and any modicum of flavor out of his quarterback Russell Wilson tossed him to the Broncos in return for a haul of draft picks.

Russell Wilson has lost his flavor. "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land or the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Jesus said that and one imagines the Gum Murderer himself Pete Carroll had his wad of gum fall out of his mouth when he heard the words . Pete Carroll has ears. He listened. No, not to the juvenile shouting of "run or pass" behind him from Russell on the sidelines who was busy pissing off the Seahawks bench, but to the Lord himself as a massive white bird flew over Lumen Field in a ray of sunshine gushing out of the gray mothy clouds of the Seattle sky. Pete Carroll threw out Russell Wilson and John Elway, perhaps only second to Carroll in gum murders, took him in.

Now the Broncos have no flavor. Their defense is their soul but now even their quarterback is sucking that away from them. In modern professional football you need a good QB and a good Coach to win. The Broncos don't even have a decent coach. First year head coach Nathaniel Hackett is a human blumpkin. He's a disaster, so bad he has hired an old Jewish lawyer from the East Coast to help with clock management. Where in the world did he get that idea? "Yes, where did he get that idea," Elway must be deviously thinking as he grins on his private jet laughing with his rich chums as they smoke stogies on their way to his private compound in Idaho to shoot animals and drink stupidly expensive whisky. "All of this, all you see," Elway sneers as he puffs on his stogie and points out the window of his jet, the lush wilderness of the American West spreading in all directions, "all of this, all of this is Broncos Country, and its mine."

"It is neither fit for the land or the dunghill, but men throw it out." Thrown out across the great sprawling beauty of Broncos Country it has been. We reached out to Broncos Country, to their fans, to gauge their thoughts and emotions on the matter. We reached out to see if they still held flavor.

We talked to Todd. He's a Broncos fanatic and a middle aged man who teaches high school literature in a small mountain town in Colorado. He goes to his local pub every Sunday to watch his childhood team Broncos play, arriving early to help the bartender set up the chairs, drinking Coors to slowly shake off the plight of whisky and vodka from his Saturdays after he yet again sits down to write his novel and after one glorious sentence quits and hits the liquor cabinet. He is screaming at the television through most of the first half. "Run it down their fucking throats! Russell! Russell you piece of shit!". He settles down during halftime and we ask him of the quarterbacks and the season. "At least give me back Cutler or Plummer, Jesus Christ Wilson is a disaster. It's like having my balls ripped out and deep fried before my eyes like a pot of Rocky Mountain Oysters. What I wouldn't do to get a guy like Elway again." We ask him more about Elway. He's his hero, his greatest connection to fame and immortality. "I saw him once at this pizza restaurant I delivered for back in the late eighties. Biggest fucking stud you ever saw. Slapped the waitress's ass and she just giggled and gave him her number. Would have offered my car to bang her in outside in the alley if he wanted to. Don't get guys like that anymore. Total asshole but a guy's guy, you know. Only good memories with my Dad were of us watching him play."

We talked to Jeff and Dan, two men in their late twenties, a younger generation of Broncos who didn't witness much of Elway's time as a player. We found them at a Zips sitting next to Gracey and two pitchers of 90 Schilling. Dan was wearing a Broncos hat. His buddy Jeff isn't a Broncos fan anymore though. "Jeff used to be a Broncos fan," says Dan. "I was never a Broncos fan," Jeff sharply replies. Jeff ends up pounding a few shooters with Gracey and they go out to the porch for whatever reason. Jeff seems to be avoiding the Broncos. "Jeff was a fucking Broncos fan," Dan says again to us with Jeff gone. "He had a damn Broncos bumper sticker on his car. Was a huge fan of Peyton and those Broncos teams. I don't know why he lies about it. We watched those super bowls together in Broncos jerseys. He got to be a fan because he liked Jake Plummer, stayed a fan for ten years till all of a sudden, poof, he's not a Broncos fan. I don't know if it was Flacco, Bridgewater, or Keenum. One of those washed QBs just silently broke that chord in his soul and he doesn't even remember being a fan, or he is so ashamed of the Broncos he now lies about being a fan once. I gave up asking him about it. He gets all pissy and defensive about it."

Dan still roots hard for the Broncos. His father was a Broncos fan and as a boy told him tales of Elway as if he were some mythical hero. In his room growing up he had a huge poster of Elway running the ball, grass stains on his white pants and white jersey, his pads busting at the seams but blended so well with the man that they appeared not pads but gigantic muscles protruding out of the golden gladiator of the Rockies that was and still is to these fans John Elway. Written at the top of the poster: Dedication. "I fucking love that poster," says Dan. Dedication. A devoting or setting aside for a purpose. Dedication. An act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use. Dedication. Something Dan has and must all loyal Broncos fan possess in this journey to wither the pain that their divine hero John Elway has secretly inflicted on them.

We sit and watch Dan alone at the bar watching the RedZone channel as he nurses a Coors Light, his buddy Jeff still missing, off with Gracey. The Broncos are hardly shown on the channel. Their offense under Russell Wilson so putrid they hardly ever get into the Red Zone. Their defense so good that they rarely let the opposing team into the Red Zone. When the Broncos are finally shown on the TV, Dan perks up in his seat. He leans in and slugs his Coors. He's excited. The Broncos are only down one score and yet they perpetually seem to be locked in a terrible one score game, the game never ending, always holding the fans in terrible anxiety as they watch and hope to come back or hold the lead. Such is being a fan. Russell Wilson throws an incompletion on a second and short and then Broncos running back Latavius Murrays get stuffed on a third down. The Broncos field goal team comes on the field and the kick goes wide left. Dan yanks his hat down over his ears with both hands, his face grimaced with pain, his fingers crushing the Blue and Orange hat atop his sweaty head, his very nails digging and dragging down his skull. He begins to cry out in anger but stops and holds in the pain, he has that much respect for himself. Such is being a fan. It is a sad sight to watch. We imagine back to Dan laying in his bed as a child, staring up at that John Elway poster. Dedication.

We go outside to find Dan's buddy Jeff, the self-denying Broncos fan, and interview him more on the Broncos but to our dismay we see one of Matthew Perry's old flames, Raquel, with her big yellow lab Sasha. Raquel, a sassy little skinny bronzed woman with nice fake tits who passionately roots for the Packers and cusses at men and accuses them of impotence. A sexy broad with gorgeous eyes who claimed to have once flashed Aaron Rodgers her tits and to almost have slept with Brett Favre during Mardi Gras. "I tugged him off in the Cat's Meow, almost got him home". Raquel is a wild women. Raquel is petting her beautiful lab Sasha and grilling Gracey with questions on where the fuck Perry is. No one knows of course. Gracey is quite drunk and is not holding back, repeatedly calling Raquel a dingbat to her face. The Broncos Fan Denier Jeff sits in the middle of these two enraged animals. He looks scared, unsure what to do. We aint getting in the middle of it though. We go back to Dan at the bar and tell him to grab his buddy Jeff and get the hell out of there.

We interviewed a few more Broncos fans but it was all so depressing. One can only hear so much pain. Once can only read so many books on slavery and the Holocaust before becoming a sort of masochist of the soul. There is a clear fact that is obviously to be discovered from these fans. They are losing their soul rooting for a once proud franchise that was build up by their hero John Elway. And now their hero is destroying it from behind the curtains in his secluded steakhouses and hunting lodges. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. John Elway is now a villain and the good people of Broncos Country need to know.

Stay tuned for part two of this stunning saga and subscribe to the site if you want to be notified when it is released.