AFC Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Raiders

Broncos

• According to James Palmer, the Broncos did attempt to re-sign DL Dre’Mont Jones during the season, yet he turned it down and cashed in on a better deal with the Seahawks.
• Payton said the team has received a number of calls about wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton, saying: “It’s not something we’re interested in doing.” (James Palmer)
• Payton said the Broncos wanted to address the center position by signing Kyle Fuller, as he doesn’t know his players well at this stage. (Chris Tomasson)
• Payton on the team signing QB Jarrett Stidham: “We feel like he can become an NFL starter. He’s smart. Quietly, that was an important signing for us.” (Andrew Mason)
• Payton discussed the offense and QB Russell Wilson, praising Wilson’s work ethic while noting the collective output of the offense in 2022 was unacceptable: “He’s super competitive. He’s won at a high level. He’s someone that moves well. He’s someone that works extremely hard. It’s hard to find guys with all those traits. …Now I watched with every one of you the season that took place a year ago and there’s probably a little bit of dirt on a lot of people’s hands. When you win five games, it is what it is. I don’t think I need to elaborate anymore. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t good on offense that’s for sure. It was a hard film to watch.” (Klis)
• Improving the special teams unit was a major point of emphasis for Payton this offseason as well: “I don’t think we were very good last year in the kicking game quite honestly. It would be silly to have those two (ST coach Ben Kotwica and Mike Westhoff), along with Chris Banjo, and not have a punter. Or not have the correct holder. Or even a returner that we’re still working on. It’s got to be an important point of emphasis. If you believe in hidden yardage and you understand yards equal points each play you’re fighting for those yards.” (Klis)
• Broncos C Lloyd Cushenberry got a vote of confidence from Payton: “We feel like he’s certainly going to benefit from these additions. We see him as our starting center, yeah.” (Klis)
• Payton discussed why they felt it was a priority to sign DT Zach Allen to replace DT Dre’Mont Jones: “Effort, energy. We loved how he improved this past season. Obviously, Vance [Joseph] has been with him so when you’re in free agency and you have a little bit more intimate knowledge of a player it’s important.” (Klis)
• Broncos GM George Paton said RB Samaje Perine could fill a starting role for them if needed. He added veteran RB Latavius Murray could still be re-signed: “[Samaje’s] good on first, second down. He’s good on third down. He has really good hands. He’s solid in protection. And we like Latavius. We’ll see where that goes.” (Chris Tomasson)
• Paton admitted there’s some uncertainty about when RB Javonte Williams will be back from his multi-ligament knee injury: “Not sure. He has a long way to go. He’s made strides. But I think we might not know that for a while.” (Tomasson)

Chargers

• Chargers HC Brandon Staley said that the decision at linebacker was more about being able to add Eric Kendricks than anything regarding Drue Tranquill, who departed as a free agent. (Jeff Miller)
• Staley said they have “a lot of respect” for Austin Ekeler and they will be patient with the process after the veteran running back requested to speak with other teams about a trade. Staley added that it hasn’t reached a point where a possible training camp holdout has been brought up. (Lindsey Thiry)
• Staley mentioned that contract discussions are ongoing with QB Justin Herbert. (Lindsey Thiry)
• Per Jeremy Fowler, UAB CB Starling Thomas V is visiting with seven teams including the Chargers, Colts, and Vikings.

Raiders

• The Raiders had planned to move Dylan Parham to center last year before they re-signed Andre James and kept Parham at left guard. Raiders HC Josh McDaniels said they plan to cross-train Parham again: “We’ll do what we did last year, rep him at [center and both guard spots]. That improves his value and he’ll be ready to go if we need him at [center].” (Vic Tafur) 
• McDaniels was asked if they would consider drafting Georgia DT Jalen Carter if he slid down to No. 7: “The big thing is to really do our work and know the truth of everything. There are a lot of things that can be speculated about that you have to be careful about pinning on somebody.” (Vic Tafur)
• McDaniels was asked why he and Ziegler attended Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud‘s pro days but not Will Levis‘. “We were with Will the night before… Quarterback is such a position about fit and it’s not easy to determine that always.” (Vic Tafur)
• Regarding WR Hunter Renfrow and the concussion issues he dealt with last year, Raiders HC Josh McDaniels told reporters. “I’d just love for him to have an opportunity to be healthy and go through the whole offseason and then into training camp and feel good about going into the season health-wise and then trying to stay healthy and seeing what he can do. Obviously, he was a big reason I was excited about being here. I’ve had a long history of these kind of guys that I’ve had a chance to work with and was super excited and, still, I’m super excited.” (Paul Gutierrez) 
• As for drafting a QB high after paying Jimmy Garoppolo $33 million this offseason, McDaniels said: “If we feel like the guy is worth it, we would do it. He’s a really good player at the most important position — is making your QB room stronger or a strength of your team a bad thing. In our opinion, it’s not.” (Vic Tafur)