Among the issues when the Falcons and Broncos meet Sunday: Elliss family bragging rights – Blogging Sole

Like the Denver Broncos ready to make their third round pick in the NFL Drafted in April, they were excited to see Jonah Elliss’ name still on the board.

Denver coach Sean Payton said earlier this season that the team earned a second-round grade on the University of Utah passer. They believed he had the tools to be a borderline first-year contributor, a need reinforced by a spring injury to the previous year’s third-round pick, Drew Sanders.

There was only one problem. The selection of two picks ahead of the Broncos was the Atlanta Falcons. Their general manager is Terry Fontenot, who previously worked in the front office of the New Orleans Saints during almost all of Payton’s 16 seasons as the team’s head coach. And on Atlanta’s roster was a linebacker named Kaden Ellisthe brother of Jonah and a seventh-round pick of Payton, Fontenot and the Saints in 2019.

“I turned to George (Paton, Denver’s general manager) and said, ‘Terry is going to recruit the brother; I know that,” Payton said this week. “They drafted another player and we were obviously delighted to make our selection.

The selected Falcons Washington outside linebacker Bralen Tricewho suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the preseason, with the 74th pick. Two picks later, the Broncos took Jonah Ellis.

Payton’s phone immediately rang with a text message. It was Kaden.

“I won’t tell you what that says,” Payton said with a laugh, “but I will say the exposure with Kaden really helped us understand the football mindset when it comes to the next pick. “

Kaden Elliss also didn’t reveal many details about the trade.

“(I was) just, ‘You got a good one,’” the Falcons linebacker said. “Other things have been said, but that’s what it is. I’m so excited that he’s in Denver and with Sean (and) a good team there. We have family out west, so it’s a good location.

Two weeks after the draft, the of the NFL the calendar was released and a date for an Elliss family reunion was born. On Sunday, when the Falcons visit the Broncos in a matchup between two teams trying to take another step toward the playoffs, Kaden and Jonah will face off in the NFL for the first time. Both play defense – Kaden as the starting inside linebacker who leads the Falcons with 88 tackles; Jonah as an outside linebacker who has played a role in the pass rotation and has two sacks – so there won’t be any direct matchups between the two brothers.

Unless …

“We might find a way to sneak in a special teams game,” Kaden said.

The brothers are two of five members of the Elliss family who have reached the NFL. Christian Ellis is a linebacker for the New England Patriots And Noah Elliss is a defensive tackle who spent time the past two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and is a free agent. Along with Kaden and Jonah, they would be the only set of four brothers to play in the NFL. Jonah said Friday he wouldn’t be surprised to see Elijah Elliss, a freshman defensive end at Utah, join the NFL family fraternity in the coming years.

“I can’t help but know an Elliss,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said this week. “There are a million of them.”

Their father, Luther Elliss, played 10 seasons in the league as a defensive tackle. The first nine came with the Detroit Lionswho drafted him in the first round in 1995 after a college All-American career at Utah. He played his final season, in 2004, with the Broncos, a fitting end to his career for someone who grew up in Mancos, Colorado. Elliss then became the Broncos’ team chaplain, a role he filled during the team’s 2015 Super Bowl season.

This 13 hour slate is actually really funny because I just watched Elliss 55 try to sack Dak, then I watched Elliss 52 try to cover Justice Hill, then I saw Elliss 53 step in to take on Tony Pollard.

–Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 3, 2024

During Elliss’ only season with the Broncos, it was not uncommon to see the family’s full-size van pull up to the team facility. Luther and his wife Rebecca have 12 children, seven of whom are adopted. With a family of this size, competition was inevitable. Sometimes the fiercest races were those that took place at the table.

“We invented games. We would play every game under the sun, every sport,” Kaden said. “Sometimes it was football. Sometimes we would make up football or random games.

Luther’s career served as a road map. Most of the Ellis boys didn’t play football until eighth grade — Kaden snuck in seasons in fifth and seventh grade — but the love for the sport that was ingrained in their collective upbringing grew. rapidly developed.

“My father was obviously able to guide our work,” Kaden said. “So not only are we working hard, but we’re working smart, showing us where we needed to improve, what we needed to do if we wanted to take that step.”

The Broncos-Falcons game on Sunday is full of familiar connections. Falcon Safety Justin Simmons spent the first eight years in Denver after the team drafted him with a third-round pick in 2016. Thirty of his 31 career interceptions came in a Broncos uniform. He and his wife, Taryn Simmons, have deeply rooted themselves in the Denver community through their work with the Justin Simmons Foundation, and the safety has been named the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year three times. He said this week he’ll be “a Bronco for life,” but his goal Sunday will be to help the Falcons earn their seventh victory.

“Practicing against him for years is one thing, but getting live balls is going to be fun,” the Broncos receiver said. Courtland Sutton. “I jokingly told him, ‘Hey, bro, if you see me coming in the middle, remember we’re friends.'”

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson grew up in Denver. He was a Broncos fan whose family had season tickets. He went on to become a standout football player at Chatfield High School in suburban Littleton, Colorado.

“Definitely, when I saw we were going to Denver, (my) family was excited,” Robinson said. “The atmosphere is hard to beat. It’s likely that KC and there are the top two in the NFL. I can’t wait to get home.

These homecomings will be special, but homecoming games and homecomings happen every week in the NFL. A match between brothers, in one of their father’s stadiums, with more than 30 family members present? Not so much.

“I played with one of my brothers in college, but it’s obviously different,” the Broncos tight end said. Adam Trautmanwhose locker is next to Jonah’s in Denver and who was previously a teammate of Kaden’s in New Orleans. “It was always competitive with me and my brother, and I’m sure that’s how they treat it too.”

The Elliss brothers aren’t taking Sunday’s opportunity for granted. But at the end of the day, it’s just another competition in a never-ending series of competitions. Every year, usually over the Fourth of July weekend, the family comes together for the Elliss Olympics, an event that spans several days and features a rotating roster of competitions, from corn hole to board games . The event includes a trophy, emblazoned with the winners’ names, which resides at Luther and Rebecca’s home. Including spouses and close family friends, the competition can include more than three dozen participants.

Trash talk is an integral part of the show. Jonah shared this week that he and his fiancée were dominating the pickleball competition, a fact that angered his older brother.

“I think the most goals scored against us in an 11-a-side game is three or four,” Jonah said. “We’re pretty good. We killed (Kaden). He didn’t like it.

Most seem to agree, however, that Kaden sets the tone in the tweeting department. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the Falcons linebacker, who already owns an NFL head-to-head victory over Christian when they meet in 2022, said the parting words ahead of his clash with Jonah .

“I’m 1-0,” he said of facing Elliss. “We’re going to go 2-0 this week.”

(Top photos of Kaden and Jonah Elliss:
Todd Kirkland and Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)