The Utah OLB talks family, football, and his history with Bo Nix.
With the 76th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, MI, the Denver selected Utah’s Jonah Elliss, making the outside linebacker officially a Bronco.
Leading up to the draft, Elliss didn’t seem to have much indication that he’d be flying out to Denver any time soon. The amount of communication seemed to be the same as all the other teams on his radar.
“Obviously I met with a lot of teams throughout the process, and I met with the Broncos staff and had great conversations with them,” Elliss explained, “It’s kind of just like every other team, meeting with all of the staff and whatnot.”
“Honestly my heart dropped,” he admitted about getting the phone call, “Holy, it’s so exciting, I have a big smile on my face. I’m so excited.”
Jonah’s dad, Utah’s defensive tackles coach Luther Elliss, is a former linebacker himself — for the Detroit Lions and, interestingly, the Broncos.
“He’s in the other room right now,” Elliss said of his father, “He just told me how great of a culture, how great of a fanbase and how it was really a family vibe out there. Honestly the culture is something that he mentioned a lot and how it’s a really good bond out there.”
His dad isn’t the only connection to the Broncos, either; Jonah’s brother, Kaden, played under Sean Payton during his tenure with the New Orleans Saints.
“It’s awesome,” Elliss shared, Kaden told me how much he loved Coach, so I’m just really excited to get out there and work for him because my brother had such good things to say about him.”
Along with Kaden (who is now playing for the Atlanta Falcons), Jonah has two other brothers in the league — Christian (New England Patriots), and Noah (Philadelphia Eagles).
With such a strong foundation in football, it’s exciting that that those NFL dreams have now come true for all four of these brothers; but Jonah’s gotten here on his own ticket, not his family’s. He was an All-Pac-12 Conference honorable mention in his sophomore year, as well as Consensus All-American in 2023.
Speaking of 2023, Jonah recorded eight sacks and eleven tackles for loss last season, and that was in just four of the ten games he appeared in before a shoulder injury took him out for the rest of the season.
“I really just had a burst of confidence. I put in a lot of work during the offseason to get better at pass rush,” he said of the successful stats, describing them as a major blessing from God. “I’m obviously not perfect, but that’s something that I put a lot of time and effort into.”
Asked about his strengths, Elliss noted his “elite” effort, adding that this is probably due to how he was raised.
“I think I’m a great pass rusher in the back formation as well,” he continued, noting his area for improvement: “Somewhere I need to grow is just protecting the little things, the little techniques and switching that through my run game.”
Now that Elliss is joining the same team as his former college opponent, QB Bo Nix, he couldn’t be more excited or have more respect for Nix as a player (and a person, it seems).
“It was really frustrating playing against him because any time I was close, he would get rid of the ball,” he confessed, “I’m really excited to play with him. I know he’s a great man too, a man of God, so I’m really excited to build that relationship with him, too.”
Drafted and fully cleared from his injury, next up for Jonah Elliss is to sign that contract and get started. Welcome to Broncos Country!
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