When Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton announced Tuesday that Jonah Elliss, a pass rusher selected by the team in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, would “take some snaps inside” at linebacker this offseason, it created a chain reaction of other questions.
What makes Elliss a fit at inside linebacker, a spot where depth opportunities behind penciled-in starters Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad are wide open? What does it mean for Que Robinson, a 2025 fourth-round pick out of Alabama who showed enough with limited snaps last season to make him one of the team’s most intriguing offseason figures? And what could it mean for how Denver addresses its defense in this month’s draft or in the late stages of free agency?
Let’s begin addressing the first question by including a reaction from one of Elliss’ pass-rushing teammates.
“Most versatile player in football,” Pro Bowl outside linebacker Nik Bonitto wrote on X of Elliss. “I have no doubt he will make plays wherever he is lined up.”
“Sometimes you have to look at your skill set and then project where you think it can go,” Payton said at the NFL league meetings in Phoenix earlier this week, “and (it is) your depth on the edge that allows you to do something like that.”
Elliss, who will be 23 on Friday, has 7 1/2 sacks in 30 games through his first two seasons. He has played 38 percent of Denver’s defensive snaps since entering the league, serving as a rotational piece in a deep outside linebacker group that includes Bonitto, Robinson, Jonathon Cooper and Dondrea Tillman.
The Broncos believe Elliss’ quickness off the line of scrimmage and his strength against the run can translate to the more open spaces at inside linebacker. Elliss has had some opportunities in coverage, and though the numbers might not be flattering — QBs targeting him have produced a 116.7 passer rating on 17 attempts, according to Pro Football Reference — the video shows a 6-foot-4, 246-pound defender who can keep pace with running backs down the field.
The Broncos have a recent history of swapping roles among their linebackers — with mixed results.
Baron Browning, a third-round pick for Denver in 2021, played 14 games as an inside linebacker during his rookie season. He was switched to the outside the following offseason and had impressive flashes while producing 9 1/2 sacks for the Broncos the following two-plus seasons. Browning, though, never fully emerged from a logjam at outside linebacker that came to include Elliss, and he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals ahead of the 2024 deadline.
Meanwhile, Drew Sanders started his career at inside linebacker after being selected by the Broncos in the third round of the 2023 draft, moved to the edge late in the season and then moved back to inside linebacker last offseason before a foot injury in training camp derailed his 2025 campaign. He figures to be among those competing for snaps at inside linebacker once Denver’s offseason program begins in June.
Elliss may have a more expansive skill set than either of those other two hybrid linebackers, and the Broncos seem eager, at least at this point in the offseason, to see what his switch inside can mean for a defense that could use more overall athleticism at the spot.
It is important to note that the Broncos haven’t yet said Elliss is permanently moving to the inside linebacker spot, but for now, it appears they are ready to give him a long look at the new position. You can’t be a part-time inside linebacker in coordinator Vance Joseph’s defense, especially as you are trying to grasp the nuances of the role.
“We know that he is smart, tough and has all the (traits)” to make the switch, Payton said of Elliss.
The idea of moving Elliss, who has provided the kind of steady presence at a depth spot on the edge that many teams covet, should also be viewed as an endorsement of Robinson.
Outside of Jarrett Stidham’s deep ball for Marvin Mims Jr., there may not have been a bigger highlight for Denver in its AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots than Robinson’s first-quarter sack of Drake Maye. The lengthy pass rusher read Maye’s bootleg run fake, maneuvered around a tight end in the flat and then dragged Maye down from behind before he could reach the edge to make a throw.
“He may have the most upside of anyone in our draft class,” general manager George Paton said at season’s end. “He’s long, he’s athletic. He can run and is really good in the run game. He’s just learning how to rush, just learning to rush the passer, but has all the traits. … We’re really encouraged with him.”
Team officials don’t make those types of comments about a player and then again assign him to a limited role. Robinson was active in only six games during his rookie season and was also a healthy scratch in the divisional round victory against the Buffalo Bills. The Broncos want to see more of him heading into his second season.
The Elliss move could also have implications for Denver’s draft plans. If the Broncos are set on leaving the former University of Utah standout in the outside linebacker room, Denver would be approaching the draft with five players in the room likely to make the roster — and typically only four game-day spots to give out.
In that scenario, it would be difficult to envision the Broncos using anything other than a seventh-round pick on an outside linebacker. If the Broncos are preparing to move Elliss to inside linebacker permanently, then adding a Day 2 edge rusher becomes more reasonable if the right player becomes available in that range.
Conversely, moving Elliss to inside linebacker could make a selection at that position less of a necessity. The Broncos also have Sanders entering the final year of his contract and three other young players on the offseason roster with at least some experience in Joseph’s defense: Levelle Bailey, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner.
None of that should preclude the Broncos from using, say, the No. 62 pick on an inside linebacker if a player they covet at the spot is available. There is a long-term need at the position. However, if the Broncos believe the still-young Elliss has long-term value at inside linebacker, then depth becomes less of an immediate need.
The bottom line is that moving Elliss to inside linebacker, if the move sticks, gives the Broncos flexibility, both on the field and as they build the roster.