3 lessons to learn from George Paton’s 2021 draft approach

Broncos GM George Paton had renowned success in his 2021 NFL draft. As this year’s draft starts to draw closer, what can we expect from Paton this time around? Let’s ride in.

Broncos GM George Paton had just about as good of a draft in 2021 as you could possibly want. Paton was the architect behind the success of last year’s class and not only did we see the players produce on the field, but it was how Paton approached taking certain players that ended up being the true key to his success.

This year, the Broncos are without a first-round pick but do still have the capital for Paton to make some noise. As we can’t speak to the outcome of this year’s class yet, what we can do is take a look at exactly how George Paton approached the 2021 draft and identify some lessons that should carry over into the end of the month.

The Broncos have had a productive off-season thus far, and we are all waiting to see what Paton can cook up for this draft and who he will select to become the newest members of the Broncos. There are always lessons to learn, especially when those lessons work.

3 lessons from George Paton’s approach to the 2021 draft

1. Believe in your guy

Last year’s draft class was up for scrutiny the moment that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell read out the Broncos’ ninth pick.

Why? Because the Broncos did not end up taking a certain quarterback that many (including myself) thought they should take. Instead of taking Justin Fields, George Paton opted to go with CB Patrick Surtain II.

That decision left many wondering why Fields’ name was left off the selection card. The reason why he was is that George Paton didn’t believe he was their guy.

George Paton will not draft a prospect the Broncos don’t believe in, regardless of position. He didn’t believe in Justin Feilds and even though the Broncos needed a quarterback, he stuck to his approach and went with the standout cornerback.

There will always be different opinions about how a team should go about building a roster, and how to approach certain positions but if the belief of a certain player is not there, even if that player plays the most important position in sports, Paton won’t swing.

It truly was a franchise-changing decision that at the time received raised eyebrows, but now it looks like the Broncos will get the last laugh. Patrick Surtain II looks like a stalwart at cornerback, and landing QB Russell Wilson was the chef’s kiss of it all. Paton believed in his plan, and it made the Broncos better.

2. Eyes on that RAS 

GM George Paton has a history of valuing size and speed prospects with his drafting approach. There is evidence of this in his 2021 draft with the Broncos. RAS is the metric to gauge these prospects.

For those who don’t know, RAS stands for Relative Athletic Score. It is a metric created by Kent Lee Platte. RAS uses a 0-10 metric scale to gauge a player’s athletic measurables, regardless of position. The RAS score of a player can then be used to compare with other players.

Last year, four players, in particular, jumped out on the RAS scorecard that caught Paton’s eye. Patrick Surtain, Quinn Meinerz, Baron Browing, and Caden Sterns all graded out above 9.5 out of 10 for their respective RAS scores.

Keep in mind that RAS is just a metric that can be used to help with the drafting process. If a player scores high it doesn’t necessarily mean they will end up being a great player in the NFL. However, Paton seems to have hit on the highest scoring RAS players the Broncos selected in last year’s class.

In terms of this year’s class, by now we have a good idea of what the Broncos targeted needs are and who some potential prospects could be. Keeping an eye on the RAS scores of potential selections is a good lesson to learn from Paton’s drafting past and may give us some breadcrumbs to follow in the selection process.

3. Paton values late-round picks

If the 2021 draft told us anything about how Paton likes to run his show, it’s that he loves to accumulate picks in the later rounds of the draft. Even though late-round selections are mostly chalked up as dart throws, Paton managed to hit on a few guys that made significant contributions to the Broncos this past season.

Both Caden Sterns and Jonathon Cooper were nice finds in the fifth and seventh rounds of the 2021 draft.

This year, the Broncos are set to have multiple late-round picks. Two picks in the fourth round and one pick in the fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds. When the Broncos traded for Russell Wilson, Paton was able to lock up an additional fourth-round pick which he added to his dart-throw arsenal. Just another example of how Paton will always try and get another dart to throw.

Patons late-round philosophy gives the Broncos a good foundation starting from the bottom of the roster. This will raise the roster profile overall and allow the team to add good depth behind the starting lineup. A refreshing sight to see as drafting is such an important aspect of building a football team.

"Drafting and developing players will be our foundation. It’s going to be the lifeblood of this football team”."

That quote is from one of George Paton’s first interviews with denverbroncos.com as the Broncos GM. So far, those words have become a reality in how the Broncos go about their business and the lessons behind those words can give us the complete picture of the Broncos’ draft czar.