After weeks of silence, we’ve learned a lot about the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton over these last couple of days at the NFL Owners Meetings.
First, it was the fact that Coach Payton is clearly open to trading up on Day 1 of the NFL Draft, and that was quickly followed by Payton shining some light on what the Denver Broncos’ ‘unique’ quarterback meetings at the NFL Scouting Combine looked like.
Most recently, we learned that the Broncos hosted one of this year’s top quarterback prospects — J.J. McCarthy — on a private visit that lasted four to five hours, according to Payton, via DenverSports’ Andrew Mason.
“For some of these guys, we’ll have an individual day, separate [from the others],” Payton told reporters at Monday’s AFC Coaches’ Breakfast. “I wasn’t at J.J.’s pro day, but we had a private the next day, where we sent him a bunch of information, spent four or five hours with him, and made him throw all over again.”
Later in the day, general manager George Paton was asked about that private meeting with the Michigan quarterback, but he opted to keep his cards close to his chest.
“I don’t want to get into the workouts,” George Paton said, per the Denver Gazette’s Peter Gabriel. “I’m glad Sean told everyone. But he’s a very nice young man. We’ve done private workouts with other players at other positions. We had a good visit.”
This meeting is especially interesting considering how the Denver Broncos have been so heavily tied to the 21-year-old signal caller.
Recently, Paul Allen, a Minnesota-based radio host and member of the Vikings beat, reported that Payton is in love with the idea of drafting McCarthy. The Broncos also spent a long time with McCarthy at the scouting combine, and, although Sean Payton didn’t make it to the pro day, George Paton did.
The big problem in Denver’s pursuit of McCarthy is acquiring him.
McCarthy appears to be a top-six lock, and very likely to go in the first four picks. So, if the Broncos really want to make him their quarterback of the future, they’ll have to trade up and outbid the Minnesota Vikings to get there.
Such a move wouldn’t be surprising though, as The MMQB’s Albert Breer reported that the Denver Broncos are a ‘dark horse’ to make an aggressive move for a quarterback in this year’s draft
T-Minus one month from the draft, and the buzz around the Broncos acquiring their quarterback of the future in the first round only continues to build.
