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The Denver Broncos franchise has seen a radical shift in the brain trust’s hierarchy as The Denver Gazette‘s Woody Paige revealed in a story published on April 1 that was anything but an April Fool’s prank.
As Paige puts it, George Paton’s unsuccessful first season as general manager has put him behind winning Super Bowl XLIV coach, Sean Payton, ahead of the 2023 NFL season.
“General manager George Paton has survived into his second season,” Paige prefaced before saying, “Yet, Paton’s role as the head of football operations has changed. Payton and Paton report to Greg Penner, but Payton is the power in football personnel. Instead of making all the decisions in free agency and the draft, as he did with the previous coach, Paton this time won’t make a pick or a trade without Payton’s approval.”
As Paige says, Payton will be the first head coach to receive such control of the Broncos front office since the 2000s.
“Payton is the first Broncos coach with such control since Mike Shanahan and, before him, Dan Reeves,” Paige relayed. “Lou Saban and John Ralston also were the Broncos bosses. They ultimately were pushed out, and Reeves and Shanahan, who someday will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, were fired.”
George Paton Gives Sean Payton ‘The Best of Both Worlds’
Mile High Huddle’s Chad Jensen believes that Paton will survive beyond the NFL draft and will be a positive for Payton as he navigates his first season as Broncos head coach — specifically because Paton’s presence will give the long-time Saints coach “the best of both worlds.”
“I’d guess that Paton will survive (beyond the 2023 NFL draft) because with him as GM, Payton gets the best of both worlds,” Jensen wrote. “Payton can keep his primary focus on coaching and scheming, while Paton does the 9-to-5 dirty work of overseeing the scouting of pro personnel and the college ranks. Payton ultimately gets the veto power, so why create more work for himself?”
Jensen believes that Paton’s ultimately unsuccessful hiring of Nathaniel Hackett — an experiment that had the plug pulled on Boxing Day 2022 — makes his “football discernment” worthy of questioning.
“Not to diminish Paton’s success as a draft artist (specifically in 2021), but let’s face it: he was the primary culprit in Denver’s woefully misguided decision to hire Nathaniel Hackett,” Jensen prefaced before saying, “Thus, Paton’s football discernment can’t be perfectly trusted.”
George Paton and Sean Payton Can Forge ‘Dynamic’ Duo
According to Jensen, the Broncos’ general manager/head coach pairing is one that could not only sound good in juxtaposition, but also work well together as a “dynamic duo.”
“While it’s slightly confusing that the name of both head coach and general manager is phonetically pronounced the same, it’s ultimately a small aggravation in the grand scheme of things if Payton and Paton are able to forge a dynamic relationship at Broncos HQ,” Jensen wrote.
Jensen that referenced his relationship with Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
“Payton had a long and fruitful working relationship with Saints GM Mickey Loomis,” Jensen referenced before saying, “He has waxed poetic about Loomis and his time working hand-in-hand in New Orleans.”
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