George Paton’s Master Class
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Overview
Free Agency officially does not start until March 16th, but so far, through the NFL legal tampering period, George Paton has put on a clinic and has been giving his master class on NFL General Manager to the rest of the NFL. One of the most exciting periods of the NFL off-season is the opening of the free agent market. This is when tons of players change teams in a short period of time, players bank accounts are filled, contracts are negotiated in rapid succession, rosters are molded and every team starts to take shape for the next seasons run at a Super Bowl.
Before the tampering period opened up, George Paton made one of, if not the, biggest trades in Denver Broncos history, acquiring 33-year old future Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson. If that was the only move made this offseason with bringing some of the current in-house free agents back, the Broncos fans would be happy, and the current roster would be considered by most, to be a playoff roster. However, Paton would not be done yet, if this guy hasn’t been the busiest guy in the NFL over the last two months, I don’t know who has.
Roster Holes
Based on the free agent list, there were bound to be some roster holes based on who would be returning to the team or not. This gets a little more pressing when the team also traded away its first round pick, a second round pick in 2022, their starting Tight End, and their starting Defensive End. So after acquiring their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, it was time to get to work building a super bowl contender around him.
I don’t think anyone would disagree that edge rusher, defensive tackle, cornerback, and right tackle would be the broncos most immediate needs based on their current free agents, and considering only Josey Jewell has been resigned so far this off-season. There is a pretty high chance of losing two starting linebackers, Malik Reed as the starting edge rusher, multiple corners likely leaving in free agency, and both right tackles on the roster being unrestricted free agents.
Early Free Agency
George Paton’s first free agent moves were not exactly major splashes, the team released DaeSean Hamilton who was recovering from an ACL tear, and signed a very low usage guard from the Packers named Ben Braden. Both moves are very low impact and quite frankly underwhelming as the league started to move, and move fast. We saw players like Kahlil Mack get traded to the Chargers, Amari Cooper traded to the Browns, Carson Wentz traded to the Washington Commanders, the Jaguars seemingly signing every middle of the pack free agent to huge contracts, Tom Brady announced his un-retirement, things were officially flying.
DJ Jones
Then this morning, the Broncos signed an absolute monster from the San Francisco 49ers in Defensive Tackle D.J. Jones. This man is an apex predator against the run, commanding double teams, disrupting passing lanes, causing mayhem in the middle of the field. It was announced earlier in the day that his PFF grades were second to only Aaron Donald. I think with all the pass rushing talent this roster is likely to have, it is important to have a Rockstar in the center of the defense, anchoring against the run. This man is 6′, 305lbs, he has a low center of gravity, and plays with a ton of leverage. DJ is only 27 years old, he’s worked his way into the rotation from a 6th round selection out of Ole Miss, to a staple at defensive tackle for one of the most disruptive defensive lines in the league over the last 5 years.
Randy Gregory
Paton now has a franchise quarterback before the tampering period and an anchor at the center of the defense as his first official signing of the 2022 off-season, he would of course, not be done yet. After trading away Von Miller in the middle of last season, Paton owes this roster a new pass rusher and has to make both the 2nd and 3rd round draft picks acquired for Von Miller mean something. Before he has a chance to use those picks, he would complete the heist stealing Randy Gregory straight out of the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. This bamboozling, as referenced in the tweet below, would have the Broncos sign Randy Gregory to the exact same contract, minus a NFL fine clause, he had agreed to in principle with the Cowboys mere hours before signing with the Broncos.
Now, Randy Gregory was supposed to be a first round draft pick despite being selected in the second round (60th overall), and some have even used the word bust with him because his numbers have not really be as stellar as you would think based on the amount of hype coming out of the city of Denver right now. His NFL draft profile labeled him as a pro-bowl potential player, but he has never played in every game in a season, and his suspensions have derailed two seasons in his career. This man has historically had issues with Marijuana failing multiple drug tests at the University of Nebraska, then failing multiple additional drug tests resulting in suspensions as a Dallas Cowboy. This particular issue, however, doesn’t matter anymore as the league officially stopped testing for Marijuana as a banned substance.
Gregory last season playing with the Cowboys competed in 12/17 games, he had 19 tackles, six sacks, three forced fumbles, an interception, one pass deflection and 17 quarterback hits playing opposite Demarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons, on one of the top defensive units in the NFL. I would love to see him play in every game in a season, we would have a better benchmark as for what his potential could be.
I don’t think that it would be unfair to have double digit sack expectations for Gregory as a Denver Bronco, with the assumption he plays in every game next season. The man just got paid, he gets a fresh start in a city that loves our pass rushers, he can legally smoke all the weed Denver has to offer, and he gets to play on one of the most exciting defenses in the NFL in 2022-23. He is incredibly athletic and ran a 4.63 40-yard dash at 6’5″ 235lbs, he can make plays against the pass, he covers to the sidelines against the run, and he can drop the hammer and make some big hits. Randy Gregory comes to Denver as an important piece of the puzzle and should be able to have a career year while chasing playoff expectations, for the first time in six seasons.
Roster Holes Today
So with Franchise Quarterback, Defensive Tackle and Edge Rusher all upgraded significantly, there are only a few more question marks left on the Broncos roster. The team announced today they extended an offer to bring back swing tackle Calvin Anderson, but right tackle is still open for a starter. The NFL Twitter world has been pretty aggressive reporting that La’el Collins, the Dallas Cowboys super star right tackle, could be another Denver Broncos target if the team is forced to release him. Albert Okwuegbunam slots in as the starting tight end, after the departure of Noah Fant in the Wilson trade, but tight end depth could be a position of need, especially with home grown talent Trey McBride out of Colorado State likely being a second round pick!
The Broncos announce today they resigned Josey Jewell, that goes a long way in shoring up the interior linebacker core, but still no news on Alexander Johnson or Kenny Young. With Russell Wilson on the roster, social media has also been loud screaming for Denver to reunite Bobby Wagoner and Wilson in Denver. We have also been somewhat connected to returning Chris Harris Jr, with Bryce Callahan and Kyle Fuller both unlikely to return as a free agents.
Finally, and looking more and more unlikely after today, but Von Miller has been the loudest advocate out there that he is returning to Denver posting many Instagram stories, updating his twitter occupation, and aggressively marketing himself as a Denver Bronco. I can’t imagine after shelling out the amount of money on the defensive line, that they did today, George Paton has the salary cap space to bring back the fan favorite, but hometown discounts are a real thing and we would love to have him back.
George Paton’s Master Class
Let’s see what else happens in free agency and who else the team can attract to Denver to help right the ship, and get back into the post season. But so far, George Paton is aggressively building a juggernaut in Denver to compete the other two AFC West powerhouses the Chiefs and the Chargers. I think the goal should be winning the AFC West, but the reality is that we play in the hardest division in football by a mile, and to beat the best, you have to be the best.
George Paton has been an unrivaled professional this off-season and has put this team on his back to get them back to the post season, educating the rest of the league on how it is done. Head coaching interviews, coaching staff hiring, trades pre-free agency, free agent acquisitions, combine attendance, all while the team is actively for sale and in the middle of a bidding war. I have not had this level of excitement for a Broncos season since John Elway went out and secured Peyton Manning or when he followed it up with the 2014 off-season spending spree bringing in Aqib Talib, Demarcus Ware, Emmanuel Sanders and TJ Ward. Thank you George Paton, we in Broncos Country appreciate your hard work and dedication!
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