Broncos Journal: How GM George Paton navigated spring of heavy attrition, came out feeling “the most prepared” for NFL draft

George Paton sounded confident, almost relaxed, last week.

The Broncos general manager has plenty of good reasons for good vibes.

Denver is coming off its first playoff appearance in nearly a decade. The franchise appears to have a long-term answer at quarterback in Bo Nix. And the Broncos have their first four picks in this week’s NFL draft for the first time since Paton’s first draft as general manager, in 2021.

That year, Denver selected two future All-Pros in CB Pat Surtain II and RG Quinn Meinerz, OLB Jonathon Cooper and a pair of now-departed multi-year starters in RB Javonte Williams and OLB Baron Browning.

Plus, Paton is going into his third draft paired with head coach Sean Payton.

“You just look back to our first draft (together), I feel so much more settled,” Paton said during Denver’s pre-draft news conference. “And I feel like this is the most prepared I’ll be for a draft in large part because of the continuity we’ve had.”

That sense of preparedness and continuity, though, did not come as easily as it might seem this spring.

In the days after losing to Buffalo in the Wild Card round, Paton and Payton thought they’d mostly get the band back together. Sure, some assistant coaches would be targets from other teams and perhaps a front-office member or two would attract attention, too.

Overall, though?

“We play that Buffalo game and we’re like, ‘Ok, we’re going to bring everything back,’” Paton told The Post recently. “And then boom.”

On Jan. 25, assistant general manager Darren Mougey got the New York Jets’ general manager job.

Five days later, senior personnel executive David Shaw went to Detroit as the team’s passing game coordinator along with Johnny Morton, who got the offensive coordinator job there after two years on Payton’s staff.

Then Feb. 4, the Broncos lost Mark Thewes, one of the longest-running members of the front office, to Las Vegas. Former Broncos scout and new Raiders general manager John Spytek hired Thewes as his vice president of football operations.

The next day, Paton’s nephew and Denver national scout Robbie Paton was named Mougey’s co-director of player personnel in New York.

Denver was already operating in the early offseason without special assistant to the general manager and executive director of football operations Kelly Kleine Van Calligan, who welcomed a son in January.

“When everybody first left, it was a little overwhelming: Who’s going to do what?” Paton said. “But we gathered and everyone’s done a hell of a job.”

If that wasn’t enough, Paton said with a laugh, “Reed (Burckhardt), our director of player personnel, had a baby Monday of the (free agency) negotiating period. I was like, ‘This is unbelievable.’ But it’s also cool.”

So for a couple of weeks in the heart of draft prep, the Broncos were down six key front office members. Burckhardt returned later in March, and Van Calligan earlier this month, but it’s still taken a lot of adjusting from a lot of people to get the draft prep job done.

“From Reed to (VP of player personnel) Cody Rager, Brian Stark,” Paton said. “(Stark’s) had to take the brunt of it, the college scouting director, because the draft has obviously been the focus. He’s had to organize it, and he’s been great. All the scouts, really, have stepped up.

“(Midwest national scout) Bryan Chesin, (assistant college scouting director) Nick Schiralli, (Western national scout) Sae Woon Jo. Just the communication’s been different. Now they’re pretty much just talking to me. ‘Moug’ was kind of a buffer — I mean, I talked to them all the time, but it’s just different.”

Some have picked up extra pro day coverage around the country. They’ve been asked to have bigger voices in the Broncos’ scouting meetings. Payton and Paton like having scouts and coaches get together to work through clusters of players, either by position or with similar grades across the board, and then report back.

“It’s been fun to watch everybody kind of develop,” Paton said. “Once you get the opportunity, take advantage of it.”

There will be opportunities, too, after the draft, when most front office movement tends to happen. Perhaps there will be more attrition. Certainly, Paton and Payton will be looking to promote, re-stock and perhaps shuffle the ranks.

Payton, of course, ended up firing two assistant coaches right after the season, losing three to coordinator roles and then also later firing outside linebackers coach Michael Wilhoite.

“I felt like every time I left town, when I came back, another coach was gone,” Payton said last month.

Continuity, then, is a funny concept among the staff and front office.

At the top of the organization, though, Denver still has it with Payton and Paton.

“Everybody knows what we’re looking for and what a Denver Bronco player should look like,” Paton said. “They know what works for us. What type of player. It’s good, but it’s taken — it’s good to have continuity with Sean and his staff. Now, he’s lost some people, too, but it all starts with Sean, and he does a really good job of evaluating what he wants.”

Thanks to that pair and plenty of on-the-fly maneuvering from the coaching and scouting staffs, Paton feels good heading into his fifth draft as Denver’s general manager.

After the dust settles, there will be more work to do to replace the folks who have already left and any more who could.

“But that’s great. That’s what it’s all about,” Paton said. “If we can’t promote somebody from within and they can get a better opportunity somewhere else, that’s what it’s all about.

“Create a really good culture and keep developing your young talent, whether it’s players or your staff. That’s what we do.”

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