On exhibit Thursday at the Broncos training facility: Two distinctly different approaches to the art of obfuscation and deflection.
’Tis the season in the NFL, whatever you want to call it. Lying season. Cover-your-tracks season.
Draft season.
One of the interesting subplots of the 35 minutes at the mic Thursday for Broncos general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton, then, was the way they deployed their differing styles toward the same goal.
Both said some actually interesting things, to be sure. There are 7-8 quarterbacks they think can play in the NFL at some point. They seem to like the depth at wide receiver and offensive tackle in this class. They’re confident but not content with their current depth at cornerback and edge. They’ve started to figure out how to work artificial intelligence into their business.
Around that, though, is mostly a dance routine.
Paton’s rhythm is to talk about hitting doubles in the first round. Keep the options open. “We’re open to anything.” Steady beat. Play the hits. Keep it tight.
Payton’s more of a carnival ride. He told stories about a Bill Belichick podcast, a Netflix series on the Manhattan Project he’s been watching and serving as a coach in a St. Louis Blues hockey charity game. Pull the goalie. Listen to this. Look over here.
“I probably don’t listen to as many podcasts as Sean does,” Paton ribbed at one point, drawing a big laugh from the coach.
The general manager’s done more of that this offseason now that they’re 16 months into this partnership and well past the get-to-know-you phase.
In fact, draft prep is essentially the first thing Payton and Paton are doing together for a second time.
This time, it’s not just about whether to move up from the top of the third round. It’s No. 12 overall. It’s a quarterback need. It’s a potentially tide-altering moment for the organization. The next inflection point in an offseason that began with divorce from Russell Wilson and could bookend with marriage to the next one.
All of that is why this pairing is so interesting and so scrutinized.
If this all works, it will be at least in part because of this: For all their personality differences, Paton and Payton clearly share a love for this part of the process.
Paton talked warmly about spending four hours sifting through 10 fifth-rounders knowing full well that by the time a pick rolls around, most of them might be gone. Payton traffics in the efficacy of confrontation and finds few better settings than when batting around prospect notes and pouring through reams of film in a big room full of coaches and scouts with years of experience and a variety of opinions.
That’s the place to work out differences, they say confidently. To build consensus. And to occasionally make a friendly bet on a haircut over who gets picked first at a certain position, like Payton said he and the general manager did this spring.
“I can never recall one of those (disagreements) on draft day,” Payton said. “It would be during the process where then you’d get more film out like, ‘There’s no way. Haircut wager.’”
At that point, though, Paton jumped back in and dropped one of those actually insightful nuggets.
“But then,” he acknowledged, “every now and then during the draft, Sean will say, ‘I really want this player. Let’s go get him.’”
Last year, Denver moved up on Day 2 for wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. and then again for cornerback Riley Moss.
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When will that fist hit the table next week? In the first handful of picks to move up for a quarterback? In the achingly long wait between Denver’s first pick and No. 76?
Hey, you could trade back from No. 12, thereby adding picks and shortening that gap at the same time. But what fun is that? And how do you get good players if you don’t trade up?
Whatever your suspicion about Denver’s intention before Payton and Paton talked Thursday, it’s still in play. Just the way they drew it up.
Now, for the next act. The important one.
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