Jonah Elliss expects 30 friends and family members to be in attendance for the Broncos’ home matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. However, which jerseys his family will be wearing on Sunday afternoon remain a mystery.
Denver’s Week 11 matchup will be a monumental day for the Elliss family, as the Broncos’ rookie outside linebacker will be going against his older brother and Falcons inside linebacker Kaden Elliss, 29. The two are carrying on the family’s NFL tradition, which was started by their father and former Broncos defensive tackle Luther Elliss.
“Doing it at this level is really awesome,” said Jonah Ellis, a third-round pick from Utah. “I’m really excited to go out there and have fun.”
Elliss has three brothers in the NFL. Kaden, who is eight years older than Jonah, was the first to make it to the league when the Saints drafted him in the seventh round in 2019. Christian, 25, was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Vikings in 2021 and is currently a member of the Patriots.
In 2022, Noah, 25, signed as an undrafted free agent with the Eagles but was waived this past spring.
Ten games into his pro career, Jonah has done a solid job of honoring his family’s legacy. He has shown signs of being a potential key figure in Denver’s edge rusher rotation down the road, totaling two sacks and 14 pressures.
In Kaden’s second season with the Falcons, he has 88 total tackles — tied for 11th in the league — in 10 starts. He has racked up 44 tackles in the last four games.
Even though Jonah and Kaden play different positions, he still thinks there are some similarities in their game.
“We have the same savviness, and you can see that when you watch his film,” Jonah said. “I tried to replicate that a lot during college.”
Jonah comes from a competitive family. During the summer, he said, they will get together for a family Olympics, where they compete in various activities such as pickleball, cornhole and video games.
Jonah claims to be the best at pickleball. But it’s best not to tell Kaden that.
“He doesn’t like it,” he said.
Jonah hopes he isn’t the last of his family to make it to the NFL. His younger brother, Elijah, is a freshman defensive end at Utah.
“He’s got the same blood in him that all of us do,” Jonah said. “We hope we can get him up here too.”
Reynolds ruled out for Sunday: Josh Reynolds’ return to game action will have to wait. Reynolds, still on the injured reserve, was ruled out despite being a full participant in his first week back at practice while recovering from minor finger surgery.
Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell (knee) and linebacker Drew Sanders (Achilles), both of whom are on the reserved/PUP list, were also ruled out for Sunday’s game.
The status of starting safety Brandon Jones will be worth monitoring. Jones was limited at practice this week due to an abdominal injury. Head coach Sean Payton said Jones sustained the injury last week in Kansas City.
“We were patient (with Jones) today,” Payton said. “Hopefully, he’ll be ready.”
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