\u201cI think it\u2019s because of his personality,\u201d Schwartz told The Post, discussing Paton\u2019s steadiness. \u201cHis desire to not see the limelight. Just like he did with Jimmy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Denver, it has created a decision-making ecosystem with some balance, partnering with a head coach who is constantly in the limelight. It did not come easy. When Sean Payton arrived as the Broncos\u2019 head coach in 2023, he needed time at first to feel out Paton. The general manager was a very unpopular man in Denver following a couple of massive misfires \u2014 the disastrous hiring of Nathaniel Hackett and<\/a>\u00a0the trade and massive extension for Wilson.<\/a> So Payton sought advice from longtime mutual friend and NFL insider Jay Glazer.<\/p>\n Glazer, also an MMA trainer and motivational speaker, told Payton he could trust Paton.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a ton of GMs backstab the head coach, and vice versa,\u201d Glazer told The Post. \u201cAnd George has always had Sean\u2019s back. Always. And that is so valuable. Especially when you\u2019re going to try and make a lot of changes in the place.\u201d<\/p>\n Three seasons with Payton and the Walton-Penner ownership group, indeed, have brought sweeping change in Denver. But the general manager has not changed. Somehow. Payton is known across the NFL for his desire to surround himself with allies he trusts, and members of Denver\u2019s front-office regime were initially concerned Paton would get pushed out, an NFL source with knowledge of the Broncos\u2019 building recounted to The Denver Post.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you ask anybody in the league \u2026 they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, well, George\u2019s days are numbered, that\u2019s a bummer,’\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n Instead, Paton\u2019s days are on the verge of extension. He \u201cnever wavered,\u201d Tom Bonds said. Paton has led the Broncos to re-sign 13 current members of their 2026 roster to new deals (according to data collected from Spotrac), add key starters from Zach Allen to Talanoa Hufanga on team-friendly deals, and found cheap young offensive production in the draft from quarterback Bo Nix to running back RJ Harvey. The franchise\u2019s baseline foundation, suddenly, stacks up with most any across the NFL.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I never flinched,\u201d Paton told The Denver Post on Tuesday in a brief conversation, walking between obligations at the combine.<\/p>\n \u201cAlways figured we would turn it around,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd we did. And I\u2019m not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n Payton, across that time, has given increasingly glowing public reviews of Paton, and has privately lobbied Broncos ownership for a new contract for Paton as the general manager heads into the last year of his deal.<\/a> The relationship has clicked in large part because of Paton\u2019s nature, a man who knows the attention in Denver is centered around the head coach\u2019s office \u2014 and who\u2019s perfectly fine with that.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they are positioned to win,\u201d one NFL agent told The Post, \u201cfor as long as this group of people stays together.\u201d<\/p>\n Elway\u2019s successor<\/p>\n In January 2021<\/a>, members of Denver\u2019s scouting department got an email from then-Broncos GM John Elway.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like, \u2018Everybody needs to hop on a Zoom call in 30 minutes,’\u201d a source in the building said. \u201cEverybody was like, \u2018What the hell?’\u201d<\/p>\n Elway\u2019s announcement \u2014 he was stepping away from his duties as general manager, and would lead a search for a new GM \u2014 sent shockwaves through the organization . The man, after all, was immortal in Denver, with two Super Bowl rings as a player and one as an executive. Elway told staff on that call he felt the search for his successor was part of his legacy in Denver, too.<\/p>\n Paton, a Vikings assistant GM who\u2019d bootstrapped his way through NFL circles, was among the names floated. After a stint as a quarterback in UCLA\u2019s program and a brief overseas career, he coached the sophomore football team at his alma mater, Loyola High School, in 1996 on a stipend of $1,000 (they went undefeated). In 1997, Paton landed a scouting job with the Bears and showed up on the doorstep of Tom Bonds\u2019 house in Chicago, asking if he could crash in his basement for a few days (he ended up living there for 2.5 years). In the mid-2000s, when Paton was the director of pro personnel in Miami, he\u2019d play games of four-on-four lunchtime hoops with Nick Saban.<\/p>\n Their squad was usually Saban, Paton, and assistant coaches Jason Garrett and Derek Dooley. Paton was a \u201clittle scrawny dude,\u201d as friend Schwartz said, who didn\u2019t play basketball much. But he could scrap, and always ended up on the floor. One day, as Garrett recalled to The Post, Paton couldn\u2019t play, and Saban grew frustrated with his remaining teammates\u2019 levels of effort.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s getting any loose balls!\u201d the future Alabama mogul roared, as Garrett remembered.<\/p>\n Paton, too, was a grinder in personnel rooms. Equally as important, he had a sense of how to level out coaching personalities, from working with Saban to working with Mike Zimmer in Minnesota. He\u2019d largely bided his time, outside of a push for San Francisco\u2019s general manager job in 2017, under Minnesota GM Rick Spielman. And the Broncos\u2019 situation in 2021 wasn\u2019t entirely stable, since Denver was operating without a primary owner after the 2019 death of Pat Bowlen<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Paton respected the history in Denver. When Elway got dinner with him at Elway\u2019s Steakhouse after a formal interview in early January 2021<\/a>, Elway made it clear he wouldn\u2019t let him leave without a commitment to Denver, Paton told now-close-friend Tom Bonds the following morning.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he saw a lot of the qualities of, like, an old-school football man in George,\u201d a source who was in the Broncos\u2019 building told The Post. \u201cA guy that has a meticulous process that he sticks to that was calm and collected, and confident, and steady, and not erratic as a personality.\u201d<\/p>\n A week before Paton\u2019s first NFL Draft in the spring of 2021, he, Schwartz and Schwartz\u2019s wife were out to dinner at Los Dos Potrillos. Paton\u2019s phone buzzed. It was Elway, who was still serving as Denver\u2019s president. Paton took the call, left, and came back.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just wants to know who we\u2019re drafting,\u201d Paton told Schwartz, as he recalled.<\/p>\n So Schwartz asked, too. Paton refused to tell him. Schwartz started to get frustrated. They were buddies, after all. And then it occurred to him that his friend was so quiet on all matters that he hadn\u2019t even told John Elway,\u00a0of all people, a week before the draft.<\/p>\n \u201cHe probably even keeps it,\u201d Schwartz joked, \u201cfrom his own son.\u201d<\/p>\n The dark times<\/p>\n The Broncos were drafting Pat Surtain II, of course.<\/p>\n There was plenty of pressure back in 2021 on Paton to take a quarterback in his first draft, and he and staff sat for hours and days and weeks in April, crushing tape on Ohio State\u2019s Justin Fields and Alabama\u2019s Mac Jones. Paton consulted analytics. He consulted scouts who\u2019d visited Ohio State. And he kept coming back to one conclusion: Alabama cornerback Surtain was the cleanest player, regardless of position, in the draft.<\/p>\n Paton is \u201cbeloved\u201d in the personnel community, Glazer said, for his aptitude in collegiate scouting. Paton was a key voice in the Vikings drafting longtime Vikings difference-makers like safety Harrison Smith, tight end Kyle Rudolph and defensive end Brian Robison, former Minnesota head coach Leslie Frazier told The Post. And Paton has a near-photographic memory, friend and former Broncos quarterback Matt Mauck said, to recall specific traits and medical history from most any player in any draft class.<\/p>\n All that aside, though, the city of Denver \u2014 a quarterback town \u2014 was not particularly pleased with the Surtain pick at No. 9 at the time in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d be like, \u2018Oh, (expletive), why you got The Fan on?’\u201d the NFL source with knowledge of the building said, referring to Denver sports radio station 104.3 The Fan. \u201cThose guys are killing me.’\u201d<\/p>\n The city of Denver was pleased, of course, with the following year\u2019s blockbuster deal for Wilson. Paton had gone to see North Carolina\u2019s Sam Howell and Pitt\u2019s Kenny Pickett in person, the source said, and was largely unimpressed with the crop of quarterbacks in the 2022 draft class. The Wilson deal was a win-now move, meant to catapult a struggling franchise behind a 10-time Pro Bowler; Paton already promised Wilson\u2019s agent Mark Rodgers during trade negotiations that he\u2019d extend Wilson, and Paton kept his promise.<\/p>\n The rest is ugly history. Wilson didn\u2019t fit with Paton and Denver and especially Payton, after Paton hired and then fired young offensive mind Nathaniel Hackett in less than one season in 2022. The Broncos benched Wilson with two games to play in 2023, and ate a record $85 million in dead cap money <\/a>. Wilson later accused Denver of threatening to bench him midseason if he didn\u2019t adjust his contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rodgers himself, the former agent across the table, remains a genuine fan of Paton despite it all.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a very positive feeling about George,\u201d Rodgers told The Post. \u201cAnd some people might be surprised by that. But I think if you\u2019re going to stay in sports, you have to be able to separate the people from the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The Surtain pick was made with the philosophy that there would be no shortcuts, after Paton assumed the helm of a franchise that had gone 32-48 in its five seasons since winning Super Bowl 50. The Wilson trade was an attempted shortcut, though, for an executive who has always made his money more from scouting collegiate talent and high-upside pro personnel than gambling on high-leverage deals.<\/p>\n \u201cI think \u2014 if you just look at George, I think you would say that\u2019s out of his character a little bit,\u201d Schwartz said, reflecting on the Wilson trade. \u201cBecause he\u2019s so much about the draft \u2026 he\u2019s like an encyclopedia about people that he didn\u2019t draft.\u201d<\/p>\n Hackett came and went. Wilson\u2019s contract became an albatross. New ownership and a culture-changing new coach arrived at the beginning of 2023. And Paton\u2019s own friends worried privately for him. After an 8-9 season that invited promise in 2023, though, Paton went to a happy hour at Ocean Prime with Mauck, who marveled at the fact that the general manager had stuck around.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is gonna sound really bad,\u201d recalled Mauck, who\u2019s now the team dentist for Denver. \u201cBut I said, \u2018The fact that you still have a job lets you know how good you are at what you do.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s true. He was able to survive something that a lot of people wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n In those days, Tom Bonds and his wife, Julie,\u00a0tried to visit Denver and attend games as many times as they could when the \u201ctimes were the darkest,\u201d as Bonds put it.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause,\u201d Bonds said, \u201cit felt like that would signal to him that we\u2019re in this forever. Just like he was with us, as Jimmy was in his last days.\u201d<\/p>\n The Payton partnership<\/p>\n At the time, the Hackett hire made some sense. So did the Wilson trade. So did the Wilson extension, even. All were swings that didn\u2019t connect.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe took a big swing on Nathaniel Hackett, and you could make \u2013 just objectively speaking \u2013 you could say that was a swing and a miss,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cAnd he took a big swing on Russell Wilson, and at the end of the day \u2026 some people would say that was a swing and a miss.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019ll be damned if he didn\u2019t take a swing at Sean Payton,\u201d Rodgers continued, \u201cafter those two situations.\u201d<\/p>\n Payton\u2019s arrival brought even more potential instability. Inside the Broncos\u2019 building, as the NFL source recounted to The Post, any player who was a previous Paton draftee was \u201cput under a microscope.\u201d The head coach wasn\u2019t initially sold on 2022 second-round pick Nik Bonitto, for one. And Payton verbalized his frustration over the Wilson deal, the source said, done before his arrival.<\/p>\n Payton, though, had a couple of trusted connection points to Paton in Zimmer \u2014 who Payton worked with under Bill Parcells in Dallas in the mid-2000s \u2014 and Glazer. Paton trusted in Payton\u2019s ability to build Denver\u2019s locker room. And he didn\u2019t waver, even in private, multiple friends told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew he was going to win, and I knew the culture he would bring,\u201d Paton told The Post in Indianapolis. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like I had to prove \u2014 I just had to be myself. And just do what I\u2019m doing, and come together, and develop a process together.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t about me,\u201d Paton added. \u201cWe just wanted to win.\u201d<\/p>\n That was made slightly more difficult by the Wilson deal, which impacted how the Broncos shaped their offseason approach. From Payton\u2019s first season in Denver, the Broncos focused on \u201cbuilding this up front,\u201d as former Broncos assistant GM and now-Jets GM Darren Mougey told The Post this week. Denver shelled out over $138 million to bring tackle Mike McGlinchey and guard Ben Powers into the fold in 2023 free agency. Beyond that, their payroll was weighed down under Wilson\u2019s cap number.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to really be decisive in who we were bringing in,\u201d the source with knowledge of the building said. \u201cBecause you don\u2019t have room to miss, in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Paton arrived every day to work, still, at 6 a.m. Free-agency meetings ran later. Denver let defensive lineman Dre\u2019Mont Jones walk in 2023\u2019s free agency to sign a three-year, $51.3 million deal with the Seahawks. The Broncos instead signed Zach Allen for three years and $45.8 million. He\u2019s become a two-time All-Pro in three years in Denver. The Broncos then found major value in safety Brandon Jones and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach in free agency in 2024.<\/p>\n Paton\u2019s superpower in Minnesota, former GM Spielman recalled, was his ability to relate to all members of the coaching staff. Former Vikings HC Frazier remembered feeling \u201csymbiotic\u201d with Paton, and Paton working to understand what Frazier and the rest of Minnesota\u2019s staff were looking for in defensive talent. Much further into Paton\u2019s career, that same understanding has built with Payton, as the Broncos\u2019 general manager has grown well aware of the player profile (smart, tough) that Payton favors.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he treats it just the way he would any other coach,\u201d Schwartz saidof Paton\u2019s relationship with Payton. \u201cHis thinking, at least what he\u2019s told me, is, his job is to \u2014 know the coaches. And know, and have real good communication with them on what they need. And then he goes out and executes that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pa(y)ton relationship, now, is about balance. Payton loves trading up. Paton loves accumulating capital. Payton attracts the spotlight. Paton sits a comfortable distance outside of it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the face,\u201d mutual friend Glazer said, of Payton. \u201cAnd George wants him to be the face. That\u2019s kinda rare.\u201d<\/p>\n Recently, Schwartz asked former UCLA buddy Paton what he thought about the Bruins\u2019 hire of new football coach Bob Chesney.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do I know,\u201d Paton joked, as Schwartz recalled, \u201cabout hiring a coach?\u201d<\/p>\n Jamaal Stephenson, a longtime Vikings personnel staffer, noted that Minnesota\u2019s building \u201cfelt different\u201d after Paton took the Denver job in 2021. He brought levity, Stephenson recalled, in a league of serious moments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe missed him,\u201d Stephenson said, now a senior personnel executive with the Vikings. \u201cWe missed his personality, we missed his evaluating, we missed his friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n Talk around a potential Paton reunion in Minnesota has swirled since the Vikings fired former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in late January, with Paton\u2019s original six-year deal in Denver heading into its last season. Several of Paton\u2019s friends who spoke with The Post, though, said the general manager is quite happy in Denver.\u00a0 And staff who\u2019ve been inside the Broncos\u2019 building believe owner Greg Penner sees the value in Paton\u2019s balance in personality to Payton, as Penner said at an end-of-year news conference he believes their partnership is \u201ccomplementary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFind me the head coach and the GM tied at the hip, and then you got a chance, you know?\u201d Payton said in January.<\/p>\n Tom Bonds would once go to Empower Field and hear boos rain down from the Broncos\u2019 own fanbase \u2014 boos Bonds couldn\u2019t help but think were reflective of Paton, given his seat at the table. The dark times have passed, now.<\/p>\n When Bonds does come to games, he usually rides into Empower Field with Paton. The general manager will park and walk into the stadium, and straight onto the grass, Bonds said.<\/p>\n \u201cJust so that he gets to take it in before the stadium\u2019s filled up, and before the people are there \u2026\u00a0and just look around and appreciate how far that he\u2019s come,\u201d Bonds said. \u201cAnd that the Broncos are almost there.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TDP-L-BRONCOS-COLTS_DSC1110.jpg\")
Denver Broncos general manager George Paton walks the sidelines before the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TDP-L-BRONCOS-COWBOYS-_AAO1912x.jpg\")
Denver Broncos general manager George Paton, left, and president of football operations John Elway watch pregame before the first half against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.<\/p>\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TDP-L-RussellWilson031622-cha-1621.jpg\")
Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson introduced by GM George Paton, left, and head coach Nathaniel Hackett at Denver Broncos Headquarters in Englewood, Colorado on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/TDP-L-BRONCOS-TITANSAO2_9282x.jpg\")
Denver Broncos general Manager George Paton before the game against the Tennessee Titans at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)
\nNext steps<\/p>\n