Elway to keep front office roles of Heckert/Russell in-house during suspensions

Via the Denver Post:

Initially, Elway said he would look outside team headquarters to fill the roles of Heckert and Russell, at least temporarily. The Broncos suspended Heckert for 30 days, and Russell indefinitely. But after more thought, Elway said their responsibilities would be divvied up in-house.

"Tom will be back before the (preseason) Seattle game (Aug. 17)," Elway said. "We're going to rely on the guys that we've got. Our scouts are in here (Saturday) for the first week. We have plenty of eyes there. What happened, especially in the front office, is not going to affect us on the field. It's not what we want, it's not what we're about, and we'll correct it.

This is the option that always made sense in my mind. Regardless of the absence of two high-ranking executives, it seemed faulty reasoning to me that the Broncos would look outside the confines of Dove Valley to fulfill those responsibilities. Anytime someone from the "outside" is brought in, the team risks tampering with the organizational philosophy already in place.

With Heckert who is the top executive on the "pro" side of player evaluation, the Broncos can expect his expertise back on the team rather quickly. Any personnel decisions that have to be made in the next couple of weeks can be done without him at the helm.

As far as Russell who will be out much longer, it has always been my contention that the regional and area scouts already in place are more than capable of conducting their work without any micromanagement from the top.

Kudos to Elway for not rocking the internal organizational boat by bringing in outside consultation.