Broncos’ GMs through the years (2024)

The Denver Broncos have had 13 men who have held the title of general manager, many of whom were also listed as something else during their time as GM. I will fully admit that I do not know much of the history of these GMs. I am reporting the information that I have found on pro-football-reference.com.

Some of the folks with whom I have interacted on Twitter have noted that a few of these GMs had little to no control over player decisions. Without digging too deeply into the history, I can’t say one way or the other, but I welcome the input of those who have knowledge of the roles that each played or didn’t play in the history of the franchise.

Obviously, those who were both head coach and GM are much easier to document. I have learned from those who lived through the mostly painful period of Broncos history led by Lou Saban and John Ralston and I welcome your input in the comments.

So here is the short list with data.

It was pointed out by Andrew Mason on Twitter that the Broncos without John Elway as a player or executive have three playoff wins; with him the franchise has 21.

I vaguely remember the history behind the brief stint of Jim Goodman as our GM. Goodman and his son Jeff were both ousted when Brian Xanders was elevated to the GM position. Goodman had been with franchise since 1998 starting as a scout and moving his way up to interim GM.

I don’t know the history behind the other one-year GM, Hein Poulus. I am very curious though. Google was not very helpful in digging up that tidbit of history. Grady Alderman had been the GM for the first two seasons under Dan Reeves. I’m not sure whether he left on his own or was fired. Remember that Pat Bowlen did not buy the team until after the 1983 season. The principal owner prior to that was Edgar Kaiser who had taken over from Gerald Phipps three years prior.

Having been born a few years prior, I was too young to be paying any attention to this, so again, any of you who want to share stories from this turbulent time in the history of the Broncos, please do so in the comments.