In late July, Sean Payton spoke the mantra that his Broncos locker room has carried throughout the preseason: You can’t be afraid of talking about the end game.
Nobody has since. Running back J.K. Dobbins, upon his arrival in Denver, said his goal was to bring a Super Bowl to the city. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto has said his only focus is on a championship — not ongoing extension talks. Quarterback Bo Nix said it in Santa Clara under the shadow of February’s Lombardi Trophy site: If they weren’t trying for a Super Bowl, why were any of them there?
Belief has evidently bled up the flagpole. George Paton is not usually a man for such proclamations. But the 55-year-old Broncos general manager was about as bullish as Paton gets in discussing faith in his franchise Thursday.
“We feel we’re strong in the trenches,” Paton said on a conference call with reporters. “Obviously, we feel like we have a franchise quarterback. We like the weapons we have on offense, and we played really good defense.
“And that’s a recipe to win a lot of games.”
This, of course, is a flexible week-to-week belief, Paton added. But last year, he noted, ESPN ranked Denver’s roster 31st out of 32 NFL teams entering the season.
“We didn’t believe that,” Paton said.
What he believes now, after going 10-7 in 2024, is that this roster is deep. That extends from starters to Denver’s second and third phases, groups Paton noted extended the team’s leads in a 3-0 preseason finish. That goes from recently-extended stars Courtland Sutton and DL Zach Allen down to QB3 Sam Ehlinger, who turned down active roster interest on cut day to sign back to Denver’s practice squad.
“I thought he was always efficient, and I didn’t realize he had the arm strength,” Paton said of Ehlinger. “And I think he developed that arm strength over the last couple of years.
“He played really well. We’re glad he’s here. We know teams are after him. And we plan on keeping him here.”
That belief also extends across most all of Denver’s offseason additions. With the Broncos’ final 53-man roster and 16-man practice squad set — really a 69-man roster, as both Paton and head coach Sean Payton treat it — there’s as much locker-room continuity as most any team in the NFL. And Paton spoke of most every new face Thursday like an upgrade.
Rookie wideout Pat Bryant, who made Devaughn Vele expendable, is “ahead of schedule.” Free-agent signee Trent Sherfield has “been a plus” as a receiver, beyond special-teams ability. And Paton gushed about Dobbins, adding further flashes of intrigue to a backfield that has a wide spectrum of possible timeshares in Week 1.
“Did it at Ohio State, Baltimore, Chargers, so so much respect for him as a player,” Paton said on Dobbins. “But, I mean, he was here a day or two, and he already had command of the room, the offense, the team.”
Larger long-term decisions still loom. Bonitto remains in a contract-extension holding pattern as Micah Parsons works to reset the edge market over in Dallas, and Paton largely declined to speak on specifics about negotiations. There are several more key pieces set to play on expiring deals, most notably defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who’s pushed publicly for an extension despite the Broncos’ lack of engagement in any talks.
“We’d like to have ‘em all back,” Paton said, referring to each of the Broncos entering the final year of their contracts. “And John, John’s no different.”
For now, though, Denver has Franklin-Myers set to play come Week 1 with little fuss. Same with Bonitto. And center Luke Wattenberg. And linebacker Alex Singleton.
Paton might not be saying Super Bowl as blatantly as others. He still took a strong stance Thursday.
“We do think,” Paton said, “we have a strong roster.”
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