AFC West rival interviews Broncos' executive for their open GM position
Back in November 2023, Denver's AFC West rival Las Vegas Raiders announced the firing of both their general manager Dave Ziegler, and head coach Josh McDaniels. Las Vegas has openings for both positions and on Wednesday, it was announced that they interviewed a Broncos executive for their general manager job.
To be specific, the Raiders interviewed Kelly Kleine Van Calligan. Kelly has been the Broncos Executive Director of Football Operations since George Paton became the team's general manager. She is also a part of the Broncos video and scouting evaluation area.
Kelly Kleine Van Calligan worked with George Paton in Minnesota, she was a college football (Draft Prospects) scout for a few seasons.
Here are two interesting things.
If the Las Vegas Raiders end up hiring Kelly Kleine Van Calligan, not only the Denver Broncos will receive two compensatory picks in the next two drafts, but she will technically become the first-ever female general manager in NFL history, since a couple of decades ago, Susan Spencer worked in the Eagles' front office, but never had the general manager title.
To be specific, the two compensatory picks that they would get are a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, respectively.
This would be huge for the Broncos, as they have only six picks in the 2024 NFL Draft due to the two big trades they have made in the previous two offseasons. To be specific, the Russell Wilson and Sean Payton trades, respectively.
If the Raiders end up hiring Kelly, Denver would have three third-round picks in the upcoming draft. It would be great, especially if they would like to trade up for a quarterback.
Who would have thought that any Broncos fan would like for the Raiders to do a big hire to favor the team?