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John Elway spoke with DenverBroncos.com after the selection of Shane Ray. Here's a transcript.
On Shane Ray's marijuana incident affecting his draft stock
"I think he slid because of that. But we were excited sitting at 28 where we had an opportunity to move up and get a football player like Shane that we had rated high on our board. So to have that opportunity, we thought it was the best opportunity so we moved up and took Shane.
"We've done extensive work with Shane and talked to him after the incident. He's owned up to it. I think he's learned from that, so we don't anticipate having any more problems like that."
On knowing when to execute the trade for Shane Ray
"When it gets close. When it gets close to Detroit. I mean obviously we're talking to a lot of different people. But finally, when it got to Detroit and their guy was not there, and so we had the opportunity at that point in time. So we jumped at it.
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"I'd like to say this - Manny Ramirez was involved in the trade. We owe him a lot. In fact, the way he played here the last couple of years for us, he was a tremendous player on the field but an even more tremendous man off the field. So we wish him the best of luck. I know Detroit's going to be getting a great football player and a great man."
On Shane Ray's health
"Physically he had a problem with a foot. But talking to Greek (Broncos trainer Steve Antonopulos), he thinks he's going to be fine and if there is an issue, it's something that can be fixed. If it needs to be fixed, it can be fixed. But we just thought he was too good of a football player to pass up, for us to not take him at 23. We had him rated in the top 10 so we felt it was great value for us."