Sean Payton Expects Broncos To Extend GM George Paton
George Paton worked with the Saints to acquire Sean Payton‘s rights in 2023, giving up power in the process. The Super Bowl-winning head coach is the lead Broncos decisionmaker now, stepping into that role after Paton’s disastrous 2022.
Denver’s decision to hire Nathaniel Hackett and complete a trade-extension sequence with Russell Wilson set the franchise back, moving Paton to a hot seat considering his lack of a past with the incoming HC. But the Payton-Paton tandem has worked well together, hitting on some key draft choices and completing a round of team-friendly extensions.
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Paton is in the final year of a six-year contract, one agreed to after he succeeded John Elway as Broncos GM. Although rumblings about Vikings interest in a reunion with Paton surfaced, Payton expects an extension for the GM to happen soon.
“It’s overdue,’’ Payton said, via the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. “I say that respectfully to the process, but he and I have a great working relationship. So my job wouldn’t be as fun or as exciting if he wasn’t a part of it. That should be something that gets handled quickly.”
Denver’s power brokers engineered two playoff berths despite the record-setting Wilson dead cap on the payroll. Wilson’s $32MM number did not impede the Broncos on their path to the AFC’s No. 1 seed. That money is now off the books, giving the team an opportunity to build around Bo Nix‘s rookie contract. The Broncos agreed on a host of extensions last year, paying the likes of Zach Allen, Courtland Sutton and Nik Bonitto a year after extending Patrick Surtain, Garett Bolles, Jonathon Cooper and Quinn Meinerz. Six 2025 Pro Bowlers came from that septet, giving Paton more momentum after his rocky start.
Elway lasted 10 years in the GM chair, stepping down after the 2020 season. The Broncos hired Paton, the former Vikings assistant GM who had long been a GM candidate. After three years working with Payton, the seasoned exec looks set to sign another contract this offseason (as lame-duck status would await otherwise).
Elsewhere on the Broncos’ staff, Tomasson adds they are hiring recent Drake staffer Kyle Kempt as an offensive assistant. A former Iowa State quarterback in the 2010s, Kempt served as Drake’s QBs coach last season. He was a Matt Campbell assistant with the Cyclones for six years prior to the Drake move.