Part 8: The Game Made

April 26, 2023 – Englewood, CO

As George Paton surveyed the Broncos draft landscape,

he couldn’t help but feel a perverse sense of relief at what to most would seem an untenable situation. It all started back in February, when a sense of desperation led Paton to mortgage his own tenure on hiring Sean Payton. After all, in 2022 he hired a nobody – Nathaniel Hackett – in hopes of signing a name – Aaron Rodgers – and all that did was make the Jets stronger a year later. In light of how all that turned out after just 15 games, he knew he needed to avoid turning that pendulum into a spiral. The coaching market had changed, so he decided to go with a splash rather than stability. He bet the farm on the guy who got sick of crawfish.

It didn’t come cheap. Because he was still under contract to the Saints when he stepped down, the Saints could – and did – demand compensation for losing an employee “on leave”. They already didn’t have a high first-rounder this year thank to the Russell Wilson trade, so Paton was forced to give up the late first-rounder the Broncos got from Miami for Bradley Chubb and a 2024 second-rounder “in theory” for the Saints 2024 third-round pick. This of course upset guys like Chad in Aurora, who declared it “One of the NFL’s Worst Offseason Moves“. Claims like this didn’t really concern George Paton too much, but it ground his gears that some random chud on the internet is somehow also a member of the PFWA, so someone somewhere figured this guy had some weight.

One weight he didn’t have to worry about anymore was John Elway. After spending 2022 as a consultant, he decided to put himself out to pasture and resigned all positions with the team. There was still the empty threat of involvement,

“I’ll still be around as a resource,’’ the 62-year-old said, via 9News. “I’ve been with the Denver Broncos for so long that it was nice to have some sort of connection which is what I wanted. I didn’t want an obligation. I’m getting a little older, I want to be able to do some things I haven’t done. I’m ready to have a flexible schedule.”

Luckily, Paton thought, Elway would be being more flexible with his second, post-retirement wife,

^{I guess he doesn’t totally hate the Raiders.}

and out of his hair entirely.

What didn’t help was his most valuable asset trying to kill himself somewhere other than Mile High Stadium. Apparently, while ingratiating himself into the local golfing community, the former occupant of Room 204 above the locker room flipped his golf cart because, much like with a crossing route, he didn’t see the trap opening up over the middle.

Surprisingly, there hadn’t been much conflict when it came to integrating the two personalities into the team fold. In the battle of star coach versus star player, the coach won because he knew he could rally the players behind him in their singular mission:

“We’ll have a way of doing business, and I think it’ll be what I’m familiar with and what’s best for the players.”

Also, as George Paton knew only too well when dealing with John Elway, active aggression always trumps passive aggression.

George Paton knew that as long as the team appeared on the path to winning Super Bowls, his job was safe. And with only five picks in the Draft, he knew that success on the field would mask the desperation that had led the team to this point. For this gamble to pay off, he needed Sean Payton to get more out of the players. That would mask the weak drafts, and hopefully lead them to success on the field – the thought of which put George Paton into a celebratory mood.

April 27, 2023 – Kansas City, Missouri

As Roger Goodell walked to the podium he was greet-

Renton WA – May 3, 2023

It had been a whirlwind twelve-plus months since the 2022 Draft for the Seattle Seahawks. A team that had limped across the finish line with a 7-10 record and the appearance of a downward trajectory managed to avoid the fiery crash that usually befalls teams that rhyme with “drowns”. By doing the unthinkable and trading away their Hall-of-Fame QB they managed to acquire, they not only rebuilt the core of their team, but actually won an award for their achievements.

The QB they stuck with despite his track record went on to be nominated for and win the “Comeback Player of the Year” award.

^{Those graphics are terrible. “HONOR8”?! “GPO9”?! “CP07”?! Don’t be clever; just do your job, graphics department!}

As they prepared for the upcoming draft, they had a bounty of picks available – again, all thanks to trading away a player that had given up on being in the situation where he was. What it meant was that Pete Carroll and John Schneider could eschew their usual road trips to various campuses to check out the talent they could afford. There was a tinge of sadness in the executive suites, as the office staff usually could let their hair down when the bosses were on the road.

This year, they were playing with house money. The run to the playoffs may have had them drafting in the second part of the opening day, but the misery that befell the Broncos guaranteed that Seattle had a top-five pick for the first time in the Pete Carroll era. The last time the Seahawks had two draft picks inside the top-16 was Pete’s first year in 2010, when they took Russell Okung at #6 and Earl Thomas at #14. It provided a great foundation upon which to build what became their future success.

And since they already had a quarterback, they could sit back and either wait for whom they wanted or trade one of their picks to someone desperate enough to give them even more than they already had. In any event, Pete Carroll thought, it sure was nice to watch events unfold rather than have to make events occur – something they tried to make pervade the draft room through their demure demeanour. With the cameras on them, they knew they’d better play it cool. So, it was straight faces all around.

When the dust settled on the weekend, the Seahawks had reaped a bounty not even they could have predicted:

Of course, the irony here is that all of these players could be out of the NFL within a few years and the trade still would have been worth it for the Seahawks, simply by virtue of avoiding paying Wilson the monster five-year, $245 million contract he signed with the Broncos after the trade. The eight players they received from the trade, five of whom will be on rookie contracts for at least four years, will cost just over half what Wilson will make per season. Wilson’s contract was already looking like one of the worst contracts in NFL history, whereas the Seahawks could do this two more times and have a completely rebuilt team. Pete Carroll knew that wasn’t John Schneider’s problem, and it sure as shit wasn’t his. He would be spared the guillotine another day.

Why, it was enough to make a man strut.