AFC Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos GM George Paton acknowledged that the organization is not “approaching a rebuild” and named QB Teddy Bridgewater and S Justin Simmons as two players they can build around. 

“We’re not approaching a rebuild,” Paton said, via NFL.com. “We’re just trying to do it the right way. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. We want to build a foundation here. We have a lot of good players here. That’s not fair to Justin Simmons; that’s not fair to Teddy Bridgewater; that’s not fair to some of our core guys to rebuild. I think we have enough players here. Now, do we need to continue to build the foundation to get where we need to go? Certainly. We will continue to do that, and that’s what we’ve done with some of these trades.”

Paton said he met with the Broncos’ captains after trading OLB Von Miller to the Rams and believes his players are “all in.” 

“I met with the leadership group,” Paton said. “I met with all our captains. I just told them [that] I believed in them. I believe in the players that have to replace [OLB] Von [Miller], and you saw that [Sunday]. This is not a fire sale. We believe in all these guys. We’re 4-4 and everything’s in front of us. We had a long conversation. I think they’re all in; I know they’re all in. We traded one player. He’s a great player, but we believe in the guys behind him. We believe in this roster. We do need to play better. Everyone needs to know that. There is an urgency. We haven’t played great. We need to play better, but the fact of the matter is [that] we’re 4-4 and we’re still in it. I believe in these guys, and I believe they can turn it around.”

Chargers

• Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press reports the Chargers put in a claim for former Rams DE Jonah Williams before the Vikings claimed him.

Chiefs

• Aaron Wilson reports the Chiefs worked out TEs Connor Davis, Nakia Griffin-Stewart and Pro Wells.

Raiders

Raiders interim HC Rich Bisaccia offered condolences to the victim’s family following former WR Henry Ruggs‘ fatal car wreck when driving under the influence. He mentioned that the organization is now doing its best to keep good communication with its players.  

“There is no blueprint for this,” Bisaccia said, via ProFootballTalk. “There is no handbook that they give you for the obstacles that you occur, whether you’re a parent, whether you’re a teacher . . . I just think we all lean on each other in there and there [are] a lot of other coaches on the staff that have a lot of experiences. We have players that have gone through other things, so I think we’ve done a good job of communicating with each other. We’ve tried to give the best resources that we have to our players within [director of player engagement] Montelle [Sanders] and [team clinician] Jean [Fajardo] and people in their department, and then certainly, what we’ve done as coaches.”