In George Paton’s 24 years of working in the NFL, he has rarely seen conflict on draft night.
Even though the Broncos general manager’s draft philosophy differs from that of head coach Sean Payton, the goal is to avoid tension inside the draft room at the team’s facility by taking care of the hard work well in advance.
When it’s time for the Broncos to make their first selection in the first round since 2021, their draft board has been set, and every possible scenario for each round laid out. But to get to that point has required countless hours in meeting rooms and many miles traveled across the country to evaluate potential prospects. And during moments of disagreement on where a player should rank on the board, the staff watched more tape and held group studies to find a resolution.
“We have been busy in meetings for about three weeks (with) draft meetings,” Paton said. “I’ve been impressed with how the draft meetings have gone and the entire draft process. Just the communication and collaboration with coaches, scouts and the entire organization.”
Film study only tells one side of a player’s story. The Broncos are just as interested in a player’s ability to learn and retain information. For a quarterback: How do they call out plays in the huddle? How good are they at comprehending a playbook?
Payton said evaluating how prospects, especially quarterbacks, process information has been an integral part of the process over the past two months. They have relied on college coaches to help figure out if a player is an A or B learner — someone who can pick up information right away — or a C learner, a term Payton uses for prospects who are talented but need more work. “Doing this for a long time, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard someone say, ‘He’s an F or a D learner,’” Payton said.
“When we bring some of these guys in or we go to the schools to visit, we always finish with, ‘Hey, if we take you, draw up your best play. The play has to come with you (because) you just love this play,’” Payton added. “They’ll draw it up and then I’ll say, ‘Well, how do you call it?’ I’m always fascinated to hear their terminology because a lot of times, they’re signaling plays in.”
Even though the eye test remains an important method in the draft process, Payton said the staff are eager listeners, searching for new ways to improve their evaluation. During a lengthy meeting with the analytics staff, they pondered the idea of incorporating artificial intelligence to help improve the decision-making process.
Payton has always welcomed the use of analytics, especially for game planning. But he thinks there’s a sense of urgency in using things like artificial intelligence to gain a competitive advantage within the framework of the rules.
During the season, Payton was impressed by Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast using artificial intelligence to predict quarterback pressures. He believes that technology could be beneficial in developing scenarios for play callers.
“We spent two hours with analytics, relative to these position evaluations, A.I. and all these other things that can help us increase our batting average in general in the draft process,” Payton said. “You are going to see in the next five to 10 years, artificial intelligence begins to help in this process.”
Best available vs. team needs
The crux of drafting is the debate of what’s more important: best talent or team needs.
“I always go back to the best player available unless we’re talking about the quarterback position,” NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said in a conference call with reporters last week. “You might be willing to adjust things a little bit because of the importance there.”
The league has historically valued offensive tackles, quarterbacks, cornerbacks and pressure players. Those factors come into play whenever Payton and Paton are in the meeting rooms articulating their board and thinking of various draft scenarios.
If Denver doesn’t take a quarterback in the first round, the question of talent or need will be even more prevalent. The Broncos need an edge rusher, cornerback and offensive tackle, even though the team seems pleased with the depth at those positions. But if Georgia’s Brock Bowers falls to No. 12, would Denver favor the tight end’s talent over drafting an edge rusher with the potential of collecting double-digit sacks in a single season?
For Paton, it all depends on the player’s draft grade.
“We may have a guy who is No. 1 and another who is No. 7. The other guy may be an edge player, so we value him more,” Paton said. “Now you don’t want the huge reach, but if they are in similar graded areas, you take the value position.”
Tune out outside noise
Payton is mindful of what’s said about the Broncos in the media. He occasionally checks out mock drafts and social media posts about which player Denver will take in the draft or whether the team should trade up or down.
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“I’ll click (the article) and say, ‘All right, who is this? All right, that’s Timmy in Tucson. I don’t have to worry about him,’” Payton said jokingly.
Payton said the draft is one of the most exciting times of the year for the league and fans. At the same time, he understands the team has to stick to its own evaluations. He said the information that’s filtered out through the media leading up to the draft can influence player grades.
Paton takes that information with a grain of salt. He said it’s good to have a pulse on what’s happening around the league. But at the end of the day, no one knows how the draft will play out until Thursday night. “When we know, it’s only going to be Sean and myself,” Paton said.
“There’s so much that can taint that if you’re not careful,” Payton said. “Anyone who is involved in the process, I think that’s a challenge.”
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