In a video the Denver Broncos posted on YouTube, they followed new General Manager George Paton as he took the reigns of the team over. One of the big mantra’s I took from this video was Paton’s overall philosophy. He ended the video talking about taking no shortcuts and for the organization to embrace the grind.
That mentality showed up last week during the team’s press conference. When asked about free agency, it was clear Paton does not view free agency as a way to spend big money and land big name free agents. Rather, its a place to focus a targeted plan of attack to fill key areas of need without breaking the bank.
“You never want to go crazy in free agency,” Paton said last week. “You don’t want to build your team in free agency. You want to fill selective needs going into the draft. That has been my philosophy. You don’t always want to be the first one out of the gate and throw all your money, but there is something you need, you’ll take a shot. I just think you have to be selective and you have to look at every situation. If you can fill a need and help your team, you’re going to go for it.”
In a lot of ways, that is a bit different than how John Elway approached free agency as the lead guy in Dove Valley. He seemed to view free agency as a place to get better quickly, but as we have seen there is a boom/bust type situation there. The boom in 2014-15 led to a Super Bowl title, but the bust years in free agency have been far more frequent since.
The other thing of note we got from Paton and his focus this offseason was towards the 2021 NFL Draft. He was asked about the potential of drafting a quarterback in the first round, but Paton seemed more intent on talking about who ends up being the best player on their board.
“We’re open to any position with that first pick,” Paton explained. “We’re going to take the best player that can help this football team. Quarterback, safety—it doesn’t matter what player and what position. If it’s the best player on the board, we’re going to take him.”
We always hear people ranting about BPA (Best Player Available) as draft season approaches and it sure seems like we might have a GM on our hands who will do exactly that.
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