Denver Broncos 5 takeaways from Paton, Hackett pre-camp press conference

Denver Broncos general manager George Paton and head coach Nathaniel Hackett met the media ahead of training camp. What were the top takeaways?

On Wednesday, the Denver Broncos will officially be back on the football field for good in 2022.

The 2022 NFL season is upon us, but before football, we got the chance to hear from general manager George Paton and head coach Nathaniel Hackett on the current state of the team, the roster, their impressions on the offseason, and more.

And as you might expect, they had a lot of great, insightful things to say about one of the most memorable and monumental offseasons in team history.

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What were some of the top takeaways? Let’s have a look at five big ones.

Denver Broncos presser takeaway no. 1: Russell Wilson trade impact, extension update

There are championship expectations in Broncos Country and there’s a ton of buzz around the team right now.

Paton and Hackett both acknowledged that, and I don’t think anyone’s denying the impact Russell Wilson has made on those expectations. He’s completely turned things upside down for this team.

Paton was asked deliberately about a potential contract extension for Wilson, who has two years left on his deal, and said that those discussions are going to be kept in-house.

He did, however, make a vow, saying, “At the right time, we’ll get a deal done.”

At this point, there’s no reason to do anything but take Paton at his word. He’s made good on every other promise so far, even the biggest ones.

Ultimately, though, the Russell Wilson deal was never guaranteed to happen. Paton noted that he stepped into a situation with the Broncos with a good foundation, and he said without adding to that foundation, acquiring Wilson would have been impossible.

Paton is a very wise general manager who has been around this league for a very long time. He wasn’t going to be unrealistic about the state of the Denver Broncos’ roster, but he also wouldn’t have taken the job — at least in my opinion — if he didn’t feel like a lot of other people have felt:

That the Broncos were a quarterback away.

Paton certainly didn’t win early popularity contests with a more patient approach to adding a quarterback, but at this point in time, you’d think the fans were going to commission a statue outside of Mile High for the guy.

Takeaway no. 2: Bradley Chubb looking fantastic heading into camp

This is a huge year for Bradley Chubb.

The former fifth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft has dealt with injuries in each of the last three seasons.

He’s also now dealing with the hindsight draft experts who have complained that the Broncos selected him over quarterback Josh Allen.

Entering his fifth NFL season, Chubb still has a chance to prove that he’s a foundational player on this Denver Broncos roster, and it sounds like he’s well on his way to doing exactly that:

These are the kinds of things you love to hear heading into training camp.

It’s easy to forget just how good Bradley Chubb was in his rookie season, and how good he was coming off of an ACL surgery while also playing through an ankle injury in 2020.

The guy is tough as nails, and does he have a lot to prove?

Absolutely, but a lot of fans and pundits have tried to make him out to be a draft bust which is completely off base.

Chubb is about to have a monster season for the Denver Broncos and everyone can feel it.

According to Paton, he looks like the player that got 12 sacks once upon a time. Paton noted that the Chubb they are seeing now is the Chubb he expected to see when he arrived in Denver.

3. Versatility could be key in solidifying the offensive line

When asked about how they are planning to solidify the starting offensive line or how quickly they would like to get that done, the top thing that Nathaniel Hackett referenced?

Versatility is key.

The war on attrition is real in the NFL.

Players are getting hurt and having to be replaced all the time, and things will start of no differently for training camp.

Billy Turner, one of the team’s top acquisitions in free agency, will be starting camp on the PUP list although he’s progressing well.

Turner is kind of the embodiment of what it seems the Broncos and specifically Nathaniel Hackett covet on the offensive line — versatility.

Turner can play either guard position, either tackle position, and he even said earlier in the offseason that he would be open to playing center if need be.

The bottom line is, the more you can do, the better chance you’re going to have of playing on this offensive line.

Ironically, the current favorite to start at the center position is Lloyd Cushenberry, who doesn’t have positional versatility that we know of.

The fact that coach Hackett’s initial comment about the offensive line status going into camp was how “interesting” the offensive line is in general could be a little telling.

This is an area to monitor as camp gets underway.

4. KJ Hamler will start training camp on the PUP

The Denver Broncos are going to be proceeding with caution regarding third-year receiver KJ Hamler.

Hamler has been making terrific progress in his recovery from major injuries suffered last year, but the Broncos know they have to be overly cautious with him and keep him from going full speed too quickly.

So what does this mean?

First of all, it means there will be opportunities for a lot of other guys to make an impression with the top offense as Hamler would certainly be rotating in with that unit frequently.

You can’t help but wonder if it could lead to the Broncos looking into a potential risk/reward option in free agency.

Guys like Will Fuller and Julio Jones are still available. The latter might only sign on in the right opportunity to play starter snaps, but Fuller is an intriguing name to watch as he can do all of the same things KJ Hamler can do and he’s actually proven he can do it at a high level when healthy.

The Broncos have depth at receiver, but is it the kind of depth you take into the regular season?

The Hamler situation will be something fascinating to monitor, even though he’s expected to be ready to go for Week 1 of the season against Seattle.

5. George Paton very impressed by the team’s top two draft picks

The Denver Broncos didn’t have a first-round pick in 2022, but that doesn’t mean the rookie class is just going to sit on the sidelines all year.

Top pick Nik Bonitto is expected to provide some pop off the edge when called upon and tight end Greg Dulcich, who was taken a handful of picks later, is expected to compete for the team’s TE1 job.

Bonitto is poised to get a pretty great opportunity here at the start of training camp.

With Randy Gregory still getting his surgically repaired shoulder back to full strength, Bonitto and other players like Baron Browning should get a healthy amount of reps with the top defense to prove that they belong.

Although we don’t know exactly what the preseason reps are going to look like and how they will be divided among the players, we can expect to see a lot of Bonitto there as well.

What about Dulcich? He was off to a roaring start at OTAs before an injury sidelined him later on.

We didn’t know much about the injury but Paton revealed it to be a hamstring issue.

At this point, Dulcich hasn’t been announced as a PUP addition before camp so perhaps he will be a full participant to open training camp, or maybe limited.

Interestingly enough, Dulcich was not one of the many offensive skill players in San Diego to work out at Russell Wilson’s compound, so his availability might be limited to start things off unless the team was just being overly cautious with him.

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One thing is certain — these top two picks should be expected to make a big impact this season.