The Denver Broncos 2023 season — the first under head coach Sean Payton — was a rollercoaster. The wild ride included a 50-point loss in Week 3, cutting veterans, five-straight victories and a playoff push, and ultimately benching Russell Wilson because of his contract. There will be even more changes in the 2024 offseason for the Broncos, but moving on from general manager George Paton will reportedly not be one of them.
“Paton is viewed as safe inside the organization, sources say. Based on his overall evaluation talents and a strong working relationship with Sean Payton since the head coach arrived last offseason, all indications are Paton should stay on,” NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero wrote on Sunday.
The Broncos do have some promising young talent but Paton also is the one who traded for Wilson, which is about to cost the franchise $85 million to get out of, and he hired Nathaniel Hackett in 2022, who Payton suggested before the season was one of the worst NFL head coaches of all time.
It certainly seems like the biggest reason George Paton will stay around as the Broncos general manager is that Sean Payton can get him to do whatever he wants him to do. This includes cutting veterans like Randy Gregory and Frank Clark and being the heavy in the Russell Wilson contract saga.
Rapoport and Pelissero hint at this in their report.
“While [Broncos owner and CEO Grg] Penner makes the final decision and is in charge, Payton's voice is also strong,” the pair wrote about the situation behind the scenes.
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