The Denver Broncos took a quantum leap forward in 2024 under the stewardship of head coach Sean Payton and GM George Paton. In Payton's second year with the club, the oddsmakers set Denver's win-total over/under at 5.5.
Meanwhile, as an NFL head coach since 2006, Payton had never failed to win fewer than seven games. The oddsmakers overlooked that because, as Payton himself touched on this week, the Broncos had serious salary-cap obstacles and a rookie quarterback.
Payton and Paton got the last laugh, as the Broncos won 10 games with Bo Nix starting all 17 regular-season contests, making the playoffs for the first time since Super Bowl 50. The youth of the Broncos roster, and the draft picks and personnel decision made by Paton since arriving in 2021 were the driving force of the expectation-defying season.
On Wednesday, their boss — Broncos co-owner and CEO Greg Penner — gave his evaluation of how Payton and Paton fared in 2024.
“I think you’ve seen with the players that emerged this year, going back to a number of George’s drafts and some of the players that they brought on board," Penner said. "It’s a testament to the job that he and his staff are doing. A big part of it is the partnership between Sean and George. I saw that early on, that that was working really well."
Payton purportedly has the final say over the roster, which, from the outside looking in, would seem to put him on a higher level of seniority than his GM partner, Paton. It made people wonder whether Payton would get along with Paton, or whether the Broncos would soon be looking for a new GM to work under the new head coach.
Two years into the Payton/Paton regime, and it's clear that those questions were unfounded. Regardless of which man has the final say over a given roster decision, like a draft pick or a free-agent signing, the bottom line is that both pros have done their respective jobs at a high level.
In so doing, it has elevated the Broncos out of the NFL doldrums. Finally. How is it that Paton (hired by John Elway and Joe Ellis in 2021) could get along so well with Payton, arriving in 2023 after spending 16 seasons with the New Orleans Saints?
"Their personalities complement each other," Penner said of Payton and Paton. "They’re different, and yet they’ve got common ground that they can work from. So I’ve been really pleased with the way that they approach decision-making together. Again, I think that is going to bode well for us as we go through this offseason as well.”
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It would seem that they do complement each other well, based solely on the Broncos' 2023 and 2024 roster moves and the end result. Paton gets credit for drafting multiple All-Pros, including Patrick Surtain II, Quinn Meinerz, Marvin Mims Jr., and Nik Bonitto. Both men deserve credit for Nix's historic season.
Sitting at No. 12 overall in last year's draft, that was a pick that Paton and Payton had to get right. With no proven quarterback in the fold (unless you want to count Zach Wilson), the Broncos targeted Nix as their ideal guy.
The Oregon star ended up being there at No. 12 and the Broncos made him the sixth quarterback drafted in the first round. He ended up out-playing all the NFL rookie signal-callers, with the exception of Washington's Jayden Daniels, although I'd argue that they should share the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
That's an argument for a different time. But the mind-meld and partnership the Broncos have at GM and head coach is something fans should be grateful for.
This team has so much going for it now. With $48 million in projected salary-cap space and a full complement of draft picks, the 2025 Broncos have the resources to fill multiple roster holes, and, hopefully, take another massive leap forward.
After all, Penner wants to win the AFC West and doesn't think the Broncos are that far off from doing just that, using the two games against the Kansas City Chiefs as a measuring stick.
“I mean we could have very easily been 2-0 against the Chiefs this year," Penner said. "Our absolute goal next year is to win our division... So we’re going to continue to build this way. We want guys that are incredibly competitive and want to work and want to succeed.”
