ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos general manager George Paton has been around long enough to know he not only embraces round-the-clock work, but it also gives him true joy.
Long hours of watching film. Meetings. Reports. More film, evaluation, and discussions. Even when he’s in charge of a player-selection process that has zero picks in the first, second and seventh rounds in a 7-round NFL Draft, it’s a great day to get to the office well before sunrise and stay there until just before the 10 o’clock news.
“If you’re a scout, if you’re a director, if you’re a GM, you love the draft,’’ Paton said Saturday in a sit-down interview with 9NEWS after he led the Broncos' five-player draft. “It’s really the scout’s Super Bowl. It’s when it all comes together, you put in all the work.
“The scouts started last May. They work through the summer, they’re on the road in the fall. They’re on the road most of the spring and then they come together for meetings. They’ve been here for three weeks."
"And this is it. This weekend is really important. Obviously for the organization but also for these guys who put in so much hard work. Football (operations staff), the trainers. A lot goes into drafting five players. It’s pretty amazing. But this is the fun of it.”
In his first two years as the Broncos’ general manager, Paton was the boss with final-say authority. He could be influenced here and there by veteran head coach Vic Fangio in 2021 when the first pick was cornerback Pat Surtain II. And Paton clearly took charge in 2022 when he fired Fangio, hired Nathaniel Hackett as head coach, completed a blockbuster trade for quarterback Russell Wilson, and nabbed Nik Bonitto with his first pick in the 2022 draft, which was also the last pick in the second round.
The dynamics were altered this year. New owner Greg Penner, who was in the Broncos’ war room from the team's no-pick first round until center Alex Forsyth was selected near the very end, fired Hackett the day after Christmas. Penner then hired Sean Payton -- an Alpha personality with long-established, pre-set ideas of how to build and run a winning football club -- as head coach.
Officially, George Paton has just as much authority as Sean Payton. Unofficially, Sean Payton is in clear command. Together, Paton is the Yang to Payton’s Yin.
The thing is, based on his smiles and warm friendly spirit during the press conferences following Day 2 of the draft, when the Broncos took three players, and Day 3, when the Broncos acquired veteran tight end Adam Trautman in a trade and made two draft picks, Sean Payton seemed to find joy in the draft grind, also.
“I think Sean and I are aligned and a lot alike,’’ George Paton said. “Sean’s unique for a head coach in this league. He’ll sit in a personnel meeting all day. He knows exactly what he wants from his football team. He loves watching tape. He loves talking football players."
“I enjoyed it. I know the scouts enjoyed it. I've said this before, he speaks like our scouts. He’s been around some great mentors. So it was a lot of fun. It was fun for me. We grinded it. Days went quick. They were long, but they went quick.’’
Long, hard, white-collar hours were a must because the Broncos began the 2023 draft at a severe disadvantage. Not having picks in the first and second rounds meant the odds were long of getting impact players who can immediately start as rookies. With two picks high up in the third round, though, the Broncos could get close to finding immediate impact players – providing 29 other teams passed (Cleveland and San Francisco were the only teams whose first pick was behind the Broncos’ first selections) – and Paton and Payton selected the right players.
It took Paton’s evaluation and understanding of the draft mechanics to move around from their No. 67 and 68 overall selections, along with Payton’s conviction to make it happen, but the Broncos wound up with three players in the 20-spot range from No. 63, where they selected speedy receiver Marvin Mims, to No. 83, where they took cornerback and special teams ace Riley Moss.
In between, Paton and Payton took arguably the most dynamic inside linebacker in the draft, Arkansas-transfer-from-Alabama Drew Sanders.
“We had a handful of players in that area but it’s hard to have flexibility when you only have five picks,’’ George Paton explained. “But we were able to have some flexibility, moving up for a flop.’’
Meaning the Broncos surrendered a 5th-round pick to Detroit in exchange for moving up 5 spots from 68 to 63, and getting a 6th-round pick in return. A fifth flopped for a sixth.
“We didn’t lose a pick,’’ Paton said. “And then giving up a future pick to go get Riley.’’
Yes, the Broncos’ fourth-round draft pick, No. 108 overall, wasn’t enough to jump back into the third round for the No. 83 overall selection. So they gave Seattle a third-round pick from the 2024 NFL Draft to jump back into the third round.
Next year, the Broncos finally get to pick in the first round, again, although they again don’t have a second-round selection. They had two third-rounders so giving one to Seattle wasn't quite as painful as it otherwise would have been, especially when Moss was, and is, the goods.
“We thought that was the heart of the draft where those three picks went where we could make hay,’’ Paton said. “The first two picks kind of fell our way and then we were watching Riley. We were like, “How are we going to get Riley?” You hate giving up future. Especially a future three. But we had most of our picks next year. We just felt we needed to go get him.”
Other topics covered in Paton’s sit-down interview with 9NEWS upon completion of the draft Saturday evening:
Marvin Mims. Will he be counted on to make an immediate impact in 2023?
Remember, Bonitto was only a part-time player as a rookie in 2022 and he was selected in the same spot as his former college teammate, Mims.
“You know Mims is young,’’ Paton said. “He had three years of college. He’s 21 but very smart. He’s a pro. He’s an 'A' worker. He has great football makeup, great football character. All these guys are different. It depends where you come from but we feel good about him. He brings something, he’ll be a great complement to our group. He brings something we feel like we don’t have. He can return punts."
"Now he’s going to have to compete. He’s going to have to compete as a receiver. He has elite speed. And he has really good ball adjustment, ball skills.”
Acquiring Adam Trautman
According to league sources, the Broncos especially liked three other tight ends in the draft – Iowa’s Sam LaPorta, Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave and Michigan’s Luke Schoonmaker. But those three tight ends went off the board at No. 34, 42 and 58 in the second round, respectively – too far away from the Broncos’ No. 67 position. The Broncos also went into Saturday with thoughts of taking a tight end in the sixth round, but four more went off the board in round 5.
Just before the Broncos were to make their final selection at No. 195 in the sixth round, they sent that pick to New Orleans in exchange for the veteran Trautman, who was a third-round draft pick for Sean Payton’s Saints in 2020 and was the starter for him in 2021. The Broncos also got back the third-to-last pick in the draft, No. 257 overall, in the seventh round, where they took center Alex Forsyth.
That wasn't much to give up in exchange for a quality, two-way (blocking and catching) tight end. Then again, Trautman became expendable after a new New Orleans coaching staff in 2022 gave some of his playing time and receptions to Juwan Johnson.
Musgrave or whoever would have been nice for the Broncos but in their absence, Trautman will be game ready to begin his fourth season.
“Obviously, the coaches know him well,’’ George Paton said. “He can play in-line, he can play the F (motion, or off-line tight end). He’s athletic, he can catch it. We feel like he can be a great complement with what we have.’’
Safety position opposite Justin Simmons.
Kareem Jackson, Simmons’ safety partner the previous four seasons, is again a free agent. The Broncos made him an offer nearly two weeks ago that reflects a desire for Jackson, who recently turned 35, to return in a reduced role, perhaps as a dime backer.
Caden Sterns, a fifth-round draft pick in 2021, has looked good when he plays, but he missed the final 12 games last season because of a hip injury that required surgery and he may begin the first few days of training camp on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list.
“We feel Caden has starter traits,’’ Paton said. “When he’s had to start he’s played like a starter. We feel really good about Caden. We think Caden will be back for the season, there’s no doubt there. We like the depth we have with (P.J.) Locke and (Delarrin) Turner-Yell and then we just drafted (JL) Skinner.’’
Skinner is also coming off a torn pec injury suffered in February so he also could be a PUP candidate for the start of training camp. And so there would seem to be some risk in moving on from Jackson.
“We’re talking to Kareem, we love Kareem,’’ Paton said. “Skinner has no impact on Kareem. It’s a free-agent deal. He’s a unique leader, he can still play.”
Prediction for the 2023 Broncos.
With free agency and the draft finished, have the Broncos closed the gap on the Kansas City Chiefs, who have won the last seven AFC West Division titles in succession?
“You know me well enough, I’m not going to say anything,’’ Paton said. “We felt like we helped our football team. Our goal is always to try and catch Kansas City. We’ll see.”
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