PHOENIX — Two to three weeks ago at this time, Broncos Country howled. The “free-agency frenzy” dominated the sports discussion, and their team largely sat on the sidelines, its moves confined to re-signing their own players until the trade for Jayden Waddle shook the NFL landscape like a thunderbolt.
What fans didn’t know at the time was that while the Broncos crossed the slew of player retentions off their checklist — 17 in all, including exclusive-rights players — discussions between George Paton and Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan were ongoing to bring the Waddle swap in for a landing.
The frenzy boiled. The Broncos sat calmly.
“I think George and I felt strongly there were a few of these players that really, A) we were re-signing that were already on our existing team, and B) a number of these players who we re-did contracts with,” Payton said, referring to the extensions given by the Broncos last year to wide receiver Courtland Sutton, defensive end Zach Allen, edge rusher Nik Bonitto, kicker Wil Lutz and defensive lineman Malcolm Roach.
“And so, that time of this season has been marketed right in front of every one of your eyes,” Payton said. “What’s the next word that comes after free agency? From the NFL Network?”
“Frenzy,” I replied.
“Frenzy,” Payton repeated. “Frenzy is what you don’t want. And frenzy implies it has to happen. Chaos. And it’s all marketing.
“So, steady, right decision, what’s our plan? Stick with our plan. Tune out the noise.”
A few minutes later, Payton elaborated.
“You have to apply some patience and have a good plan. And we recognize where we’re at. We understand exactly where we’re at with Bo [Nix’s] contract, our team. And yet the mistake two-thirds of the teams make is trying to win the day, win the draft day, win the hiring-cycle day, and win the free-agency day.
“And we’re interested in winning.
“Our fan base is extremely important to us. But we’re going to do what we think is best for our team to be better. When this puzzle is finished at the end of, call it June, and then what do we look like at that point? But I do think patience is important.”
The Broncos ignored the noise — but the fact that Payton mentioned it showed that he heard it. Well, he heard it at least from his older brother, who tends to prefer a more aggressive course of action.
“My brother’s 71 years old, and Day Two of free agency, the phone rings,” Payton said.
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ONLY IN 2023 DID THE BRONCOS UNDER PAYTON STORM INTO FREE AGENCY
Payton has compared free-agency shopping to his parents’ affinity of searching for family sofas at garage sales.
“I think I had 10 couches growing up, right?” he said last summer. “And so, they come home with a new couch and you’d remove the old one. And you were so excited — It was a sectional — until you sat in the left corner and it wiggled. And then you realized why it was a free agent.”
Tuesday, his analogy turned to baseball.
“Just do the research, and you go back in that first week of free agency, and if you’re batting.380, .395, it’s about where the numbers lie,” Payton said. “If you went back five years from now, you just go backwards and say, ‘Would they do it again?’ Now, we did a really good job in Year One (2023) of hitting on some priority free agents that immediately were able to change the flight pattern in which we were traveling.”
Lacking first- and second-round picks at the time, the Broncos dove headlong into the market and outspent every other team in the league that year, with a haul headlined by left guard Ben Powers, right tackle Mike McGlinchey and defensive end Zach Allen. All remain with the team; Allen signed a contract extension last year.
That class, however, came under exceptional circumstances: the absence of draft capital and the presence of a new head coach looking to alter the team’s culture and arc. It’s not the same when you’ve risen from five wins before that expensive free-agent class to eight, 10 and 14 in the three subsequent seasons.
If the Broncos under Payton spend like that again, it’s likely that something went wrong — most likely in player development or in team-wide on-field performance.