the general manager of the Denver Broncos. He is George.
Payton George. Welcome to the program. How's it going?
Thanks for thanks for having me. Mike have
a lot of years and I've never first time on the show, pretty
excited.
When I appreciate it very much. And this last year for you had
to have flown by,
I'm amazed how we're already into year two of the Peyton
regime. I still think of you as a new GM, how fast did it go by
for you?
It flew by, you know, obviously when you get a job and you're
just trying to learn the staff and learn the building and,
you know, get through freeing secret through the draft and
things just come at you
from every direction. But, you know, it was a fun year
challenging year, but,
you know, I'm excited for where we are and where we're going.
Give me the biggest thing you learned in the first year that
you wish you'd known last year.
Well, just the the,
you know, and I learned, I knew this from Rick, Spielman, you
know, he told me that
you'll be doing a lot more non-football stuff. And so
that's the things you have to manage. You know, when you have
this job, is because every day there's something
and you just have to be disciplined and shut your door
every now and then and watch tape and and do what you know,
why they hired you.
We didn't get a chance to talk about it last year after you
took the job, but I'm curious because you had so many
opportunities over the years to
become a GM here or there or wherever and it never was
the right time for you. What may Denver last year, the right
time in the right place for you to become a GM?
Yeah, just after meeting with John and Joe Ellis. It was just
seemed like the right fit, you know, obviously it's always
been one of the top organizations in the NFL myself
growing up in Los Angeles,
you know, I knew a lot about the organization and all
the winning and the tradition and then,
you know, just sitting down with them, the fan base. And
then, you know, I thought they had some foundation in place,
an offense and defense
where we could, you know, hopefully turn this thing,
you know, quickly.
I want to get to the quarterback position,
obviously, in the division that your team occupies. It's
critical to have a great quarterback and
we're obviously not going to get into the names of any
veteran players because that's not prohibited at this current
juncture of the calendar. But on a scale of 1 to 10, George,
how big of a priority is the quarterback position for you
this offseason.
Yeah. I mean, I think it has to be a 10 for every team that
doesn't have that guy that franchise guy, you know, we
like trulock
we like what Teddy did last year, but we're He's looking,
you know, and so I think it's a 10, you know, you it's
you know, we everyone needs that type of quarterback to get
to where they need to go and and we're no different.
Give me the top two or three characteristics, you look for
in a quarterback who hopefully becomes a franchise guy.
Yeah, I mean, it's it's you can talk about this for a while.
I think.
Number one is you toughness, you know, uh, it's a tough
position. You're taking a lot of hits. I think it's
a toughest position in sports. Obviously, you want the mental
capability. I mean, they have to process so much
at quarterback and then,
you know, third would be accuracy, you know, just to
deliver the ball on time to the right
Target and deliver it accurately. So
those would be three. I mean, we could discuss it for
a while, but
And as a relates to the purpose here in Indianapolis looking at
the quarterbacks and other players who are entering
the draft, how difficult is it to take? What a guy's done at
the college level at
the quarterback position and project it to
success or not in the NFL.
Yeah. It's really hard. I mean I you see
you know, I don't know what the the stats are, but it's
probably 50/50 the guys hit, you know, when you take them in
the first round. And so you got to dig into so many different
things and you're trying to do.
You know, over the course of the fall and the offseason
and really get to know these guys and
you know, one are they,
you know, do they love ball
to are they smart enough to run what you're doing and then
you know, I mentioned the toughness and then
you know just to are they
talented enough. So there's a lot that goes into it. I think
a lot depends on where they go as well are they positioned to
you know, put enough around them where they can have some
early success. So it's
it's probably the hardest thing we can do, you know when you're
sitting in my seat.
What's your pitch? Pitch to a veteran. If a veteran becomes
available to you regardless of who it, maybe your pitch to
that guy to come to Denver,
and, and be part of a team, that that quarterback can make
as successful as it possibly can be.
Yeah, I mean, I think we have a lot of weapons.
You don't offense. I think we have three or four super
receivers that are really talented and they're only going
to get better. We have to really talented tight ends. We
have Javonte Williams is a runner. So I think the weapons
are there, the offensive line,
you know, we need to add, you know, one,
we need to get a tackle, but then our defense, I think,
you know, they were second or third in points allowed during
the season and, or during last season, so
I think we have a lot going for us and, you know, in regards to
the weapons. We have an
fence and then our defense, you know, coming back and
and and sustaining what they did last year.
You're an unusual spot. Where the Broncos don't, currently
have an owner who is day-to-day running the team, how has that
affected your job so far? And how do you anticipate
the arrival of an owner
changing your job in the future?
You know, it has an impact in my job at all. You know, Joe
Ellis has done a great job of showing leadership since I've
been here and
and, you know, we just have to take care of what we do and we
really can't worry about things. You know, we can't
control. I think
everyone's kind of excited to get to know a new owner and and
and see who that is. But, you know, it doesn't affect. You
know, how we go about our day to day or how we're going to
draft, how we're going to sign, free agents or what have you.
What are you most proud of
based on your first year, with the team?
You know, I don't know if proud, I'm just,
you know, I just
excited how the guys played hard, you know, and and
you know, we were down,
you know, week 78, our 17th game against Kansas City. I'm
just proud of the way, the guys fought went through a lot like,
all teams with covid, you know, obviously Vic and his coaches
are fighting, but it was just, I really appreciated the way,
the guys fought towards
the end even know when we're out of it. And that's the type
of players. We're going to continue to try to bring in
here.
And give me one thing. If there is one thing, maybe there's
more than one thing that you look back at last year and say
boy, I wish I could do that over again.
Well, I mean, I'm sure there's a draft pick or two that you
know, I wish we could
reconsider or maybe a free agent signing. I really don't
want to mention them because I have to deal with these players
but,
you know, really, I don't regret anything we've done.
I think we've kind of stayed the course we had a plan in place,
you know, I think we have a lot of Foundations in place to take
that next step and I liked most of the decisions we've made
now, no one hits 100%. But,
you know, I thought we did a really nice job with the first
year.
I think the buildings come, you know, come. Together, you know,
my staff, The Scouting staff. I didn't know any of them when
I got there. And so just the
cohesion, we have the Synergy, we have as a staff, and within
our building, you know, that's another thing that I'm really
proud of.
I mentioned earlier in the division, with three great
quarterbacks. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert
and Derek Carr, how much of your roster construction is
driven by knowing that you're dealing with those teams twice
a year every year.
Yeah. I mean, it's always there, you know, we we need to play.
Better in our division. We obviously have three really
good coaches in our division. And we need, you know, we need
to pressure, those quarterbacks and we need to cover. And so
you're always thinking about that our division where we
stand,
you know, we're for, you know, we haven't won mini division
games and we haven't won many home games. So we need to
really improve on that. But know, you're always looking,
you know, at the teams at the top. And how are you going to
get there?
Where do you stand on the possibility of the overtime?
Rule changing specifically in the postseason?
You know, Mike, I haven't really thought about that too
much,
but I'm kind of like, the way it is now, you know, but again,
I haven't really looked into it. I haven't read much on it.
Been busy
hiring coaches and trying to catch up on this draft and free
agency stuff.
What's your
what's your main objective between now and the start of
Week? 1? Beyond the quarterback position.
Yeah, we just need to really improve on the positions of
need and,
and really improve our depth. And we're fortunate. We have 11
draft picks. You know, we have a lot of cap room. We have
five, our draft picks in the top three rounds. So I think we
can really make some hay at the top. And then,
you know, just keep improving our depth. I think we made
a lot of strides in that last year, but
You know, you can never have enough depth. And so that's
what we're really focused on. Obviously our offense needs to
take the next step. We haven't been very good on offense, you
know in five or six years
and that needs to improve
defensively. We need to sustain, we don't want to take
a step back, but we really need to fix the offense.
Well, George is great to finally talk to you. It's
a organization with a proud history and I think a bright
future, especially given that it's in your hands. And we hope
to talk to you again down the road real soon.
It's been great. Mike really good
talking to you. Look forward to talking to you soon.