Among the stakes when Falcons, Broncos meet Sunday: Elliss family bragging rights

[ad_1] Because the Denver Broncos ready to make their third-round choose within the NFL Draft in April, they had been ecstatic to see Jonah Elliss’ title nonetheless on the board.

Denver coach Sean Payton stated earlier this season that the crew had a second-round grade on the cross rusher out of the College of Utah. They believed he had the instruments to be a 12 months 1 contributor on the sting, a necessity enhanced by a spring damage to the prior 12 months’s third-round choose, Drew Sanders.

There was just one drawback. Deciding on two picks forward of the Broncos had been the Atlanta Falcons. Their normal supervisor is Terry Fontenot, who beforehand labored within the entrance workplace of the New Orleans Saints throughout almost all of Payton’s 16 seasons because the crew’s head coach. And on Atlanta’s roster was a linebacker named Kaden Elliss, Jonah’s brother and a seventh-round choose of Payton, Fontenot and the Saints in 2019.

“I turned to George (Paton, Denver’s normal supervisor) and I stated, ‘Terry’s going to draft the brother; I do know it,’” Payton stated this week. “They drafted one other participant after which we had been excited, clearly, to make our choice.

The Falcons chosen Washington exterior linebacker Bralen Trice, who suffered a season-ending ACL damage within the preseason, with the 74th choose. Two picks later, the Broncos took Jonah Elliss.

Payton’s telephone instantly buzzed with a textual content message. It was Kaden.

“I gained’t let you know what it stated,” Payton stated with amusing, “however I'd say the publicity with Kaden actually helped us perceive the soccer mindset because it pertained to the following choose.”

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Signal Up Kaden Elliss didn’t spill many particulars of the alternate, both.

“(I used to be) simply, ‘You bought an excellent one,’” the Falcons linebacker stated. “Different issues had been stated, however it's what it's. I’m simply so excited he’s in Denver and with Sean (and) an excellent employees on the market. We’ve bought household out west so it’s a great place.”

Two weeks after the draft, the NFL’s schedule was launched and a date for an Elliss household reunion was born. On Sunday, when the Falcons go to the Broncos in a matchup of two groups attempting to take one other step towards the playoffs, Kaden and Jonah will face one another within the NFL for the primary time. Each play protection — Kaden as a beginning inside linebacker who leads the Falcons with 88 tackles; Jonah as an out of doors linebacker who has carved a job within the pass-rush rotation and has two sacks — so there gained’t be any direct clashes between the 2 brothers.

Except …

“We could discover a technique to sneak in a particular groups matchup,” Kaden stated.

<img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-5925681 size-full" src="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-300x200.jpg 300w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15184154/GettyImages-2184036181-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"/> Atlanta linebacker Kaden Elliss leads the Falcons with 88 tackles via 10 video games. (Jonathan Bachman / Getty Pictures) The brothers are two of 5 Elliss members of the family who've reached the NFL. Christian Elliss is linebacker for the New England Patriots and Noah Elliss is a defensive sort out who hung out throughout the previous two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and is a free agent. Together with Kaden and Jonah, they're believed to be the one set of 4 brothers to have performed within the NFL. Jonah stated Friday he wouldn’t be shocked to see Elijah Elliss, a freshman defensive finish at Utah, be a part of the household’s NFL fraternity within the coming years.

“Can’t assist however know an Elliss,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris stated this week. “There’s one million of them.”

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Their father, Luther Elliss, performed 10 seasons within the league as a defensive sort out. The primary 9 got here with the Detroit Lions, who drafted him within the first spherical in 1995 after an All-American school profession at Utah. He performed his last season, in 2004, with the Broncos, a becoming profession finish for somebody who grew up in Mancos, Colo. Elliss later turned a crew chaplain for the Broncos, a job he stuffed throughout the crew’s Tremendous Bowl season in 2015.

This 1 pm slate is definitely very humorous as a result of I simply watched Elliss 55 attempt to sack Dak after which watched Elliss 52 attempt to cowl Justice Hill after which I noticed Elliss 53 step as much as sort out Tony Pollard.

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 3, 2024

Throughout Elliss’ lone season with the Broncos, it wasn’t uncommon to see the household’s full-sized van pull as much as the crew’s facility. Luther and his spouse Rebecca have 12 youngsters, seven of whom had been adopted. With a household that measurement, competitors was inevitable. Typically the fiercest races had been those to the dinner desk.

“We’d make up video games. We’d play each sport underneath the solar, each sport,” Kaden stated. “Typically it was soccer. Typically it was soccer or random video games we made up.”

Luther’s profession served as a highway map. A lot of the Elliss boys didn’t play sort out soccer till eighth grade — Kaden snuck in seasons in fifth and seventh grade — however love for the game that was baked into their collective upbringing grew rapidly.

“My dad was clearly in a position to information our work,” Kaden stated. “So not solely working exhausting however working good, displaying us the place we wanted to enhance, what we wanted to do if we needed to make that step.”

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Broncos rookie Jonah Elliss steadily bettering his pass-rush plan

The matchup between the Broncos and Falcons on Sunday is filled with acquainted connections. Falcons security Justin Simmons spent the primary eight years in Denver after the crew drafted him with a third-round choose in 2016. Thirty of his 31 profession interceptions got here in a Broncos uniform. He and his spouse, Taryn Simmons, rooted themselves deeply into the Denver group via their work with the Justin Simmons Basis, and the protection was named the crew’s Walter Payton Man of the 12 months nominee three completely different instances. He stated this week he’ll be “a Bronco for all times,” however his focus Sunday will probably be serving to the Falcons get their seventh win.

“Training in opposition to him for years is one factor, however to get stay bullets goes to be enjoyable,” stated Broncos large receiver Courtland Sutton. “I jokingly informed him, ‘Hey, bro, should you see me coming throughout the center, simply bear in mind we’re associates.’”

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, in the meantime, grew up in Denver. He was a Broncos fan whose household had season tickets. He later turned a standout soccer participant at Chatfield Excessive Faculty within the suburb of Littleton, Colo.

“Positively, once I noticed we had been going to Denver, (my) household bought excited,” Robinson stated. “The environment is hard to beat. Most likely there and Okay.C. are the highest two within the NFL. Wanting ahead to getting again dwelling.”

These returns will probably be particular, however reunion video games and homecomings occur each week within the NFL. A matchup of brothers, in certainly one of their father’s dwelling stadiums, with greater than 30 members of the family available? Not a lot.

“I performed with certainly one of my brothers in school, however that is clearly completely different,” stated Broncos tight finish Adam Trautman, whose locker is subsequent to Jonah’s in Denver and who was beforehand a teammate of Kaden’s in New Orleans. “It was all the time aggressive with me and my brother, and I’m certain that’s how they’re treating it, too.”

<img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-5925673 size-full" src="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-300x200.jpg 300w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/15183103/GettyImages-2181411918-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"/> Broncos rookie Jonah Elliss (52) has 21 tackles and two sacks for Denver this season. (C. Morgan Engel / Getty Pictures) The Elliss brothers aren’t taking Sunday’s alternative with no consideration. However on the finish of the day, it’s one other competitors in a endless string of them. Every year, often throughout Fourth of July weekend, the household gathers for the Elliss Olympics, an occasion that spans a number of days and has a rotating checklist of competitions, from corn gap to board video games. The occasion features a trophy, emblazoned with the names of the winners, that resides at Luther and Rebecca’s dwelling. Together with spouses and shut household associates, the competitors can embody greater than three dozen contributors.

Trash-talking is an inherent a part of the spectacle. Jonah shared this week that he and his fiancée dominate the pickleball competitors, a proven fact that rankled his older brother.

“I believe probably the most somebody scored on us in a sport to 11 is three or 4,” Jonah stated. “We’re fairly good. We killed (Kaden). He didn't prefer it.”

Most appear to agree, although, that Kaden units the tempo within the chirping division. So maybe it’s no shock the Falcons linebacker, who already owns a head-to-head NFL win over Christian once they met in 2022, delivered the parting phrases forward of his matchup with Jonah.