AFC Notes: Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos GM George Paton spoke about the team not picking until the second round with the No. 64 overall pick.

“It’s tough to wait that long. … I know I’m going to get jumpy,” Paton said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN. “But then when I walk over to this presser and see our quarterback throwing to those receivers, I feel pretty good about it. And I know I’m going to feel good Week 1 because we have a franchise quarterback who brings it every day. It’s a blessing. We love having first-round picks. We loved having the early second. But we also love having a franchise quarterback that sets the tone every day in the building. I come here and he’s working. There’s a reason he’s great…There’s no pain in that. That first day [of the draft], we’ll watch Russell Wilson highlights.”

Paton also joked about the team making trades in order to get some picks back in the 2023 draft, saying he would consider doing so as they currently have only four. However, he remains confident 

“We’re at 64; no one’s really worried about who we’re picking,” Paton said. “We do love picks. … We’d definitely like to add picks next year. Contrary to popular belief, we do have nine picks (this year). Five in the first four rounds. So I think we’re in a really good spot. I think there’s going to be value in those rounds. I think we can upgrade our team, upgrade our depth, upgrade our speed. Everything we need to do, we’re fortunate. In free agency, we filled a lot of needs, and throughout our offseason, so we don’t need to reach for players.”

Chiefs

Chiefs GM Brett Veach spoke about the team bringing back S Tyrann Mathieu and how the team will have to adjust after placing the franchise tag on T Orlando Brown.

“I think anything’s on the table,” Veach said, via ChiefsWire.com. “And I think that goes for how we operate at all levels. I mean, he’s a player that we know we love. And if there’s a situation that, you know, makes sense for him, you know, it’s all about him. Now, certainly, we wouldn’t close the door to that because of the way we feel about him. We certainly had broad concept discussions with Tyrann (Mathieu) prior to the last season. And, you know, when you have those kinds of broad concept discussions, to the kid’s credit, and to his defense, those are usually geared toward team-friendly deals, and what would make sense for us, and certainly, we had a lot of hurdles with the contracts and the players on our team. So when we approached him, our expectation was that this was a long shot for us.”

“But you know, we’ll see if we can get something done, but I totally understand his position and where he was,” Veach said. “And then you go into the season, and you know, the player and the organization knows that, once it gets into that next phase of evaluation, and then the process of having guys under contract and then holding a franchise tied with Orlando Brown, it becomes tricky. And you have to be able to pivot and shift quickly. And we did that. But you know, certainly can’t say enough about Tyrann (Mathieu) and how we feel about him. I think he’s a guy that knows what he wants, and he’s going to be selected. I’m sure he has some choices out there. But he’s, you know, certainly is an accomplished player. And he’s done a lot of things in this in this league. So I don’t think that he’s in a rush to make a decision. I think he has choices. And, you know, I think I’m not surprised just because when you’ve done the things that he’s done, and you won Super Bowls and been the Pro Bowls, I don’t think, you know, there’s a need to rush and take all the information in and spend time with your family and let the decision come to you as opposed to forcing a decision.”

Veach added that there was no rush to get a long-term deal done with Brown and that he was confident Brown will make the right decision when the time comes.

“There’s no rush on either side,” said Veach, via ESPN. “On one end, a player likes to take his time to assess the current and future markets, and on the other side, our team is going through the draft process right now. He’s a really smart guy. He’ll make a great decision. Whoever he wants to hire to represent himself, we’ll be more than happy to sit down and discuss an extension with him.”

The team is also hoping that RT Lucas Niang can return in 2022 early in the season after it was previously thought he could miss the season. Niang recently had an MRI this week on his torn patellar tendon so that the team could see his recovery progress.

“I think that him by the end of training camp is something that could happen,” Veach said. “He’s definitely on target.”

Raiders

Raiders GM Dave Ziegler had high praise of WR Hunter Renfrow‘s ability to get open, run after the catch, and his production on third downs. 

“A very talented player. I’ve been asked about him in the past and he’s just he’s a gritty guy, knows how to get open, knows how to win on third down, has some return experience, is good after the catch,” Ziegler said, via ProFootballTalk. “So, yes, Hunter is a good football player and has a good a lot of good elements that allow him to be successful on Sundays, which is important. And he’s a young player.”

As for Raiders QB Derek Carr saying they structured his contract in order for Renfrow to get a deal, Ziegler responded they will keep contract discussions private. 

“So, like I’ve said before when we talked about, I think it was Derek [Carr] at the owners meeting, relative to contracts and things like that, we’re always going to keep those things in house and keep those discussions private. Hunter’s going to be no different in that regard, but we’re excited that he’s on the team. We love good receivers and, you know, he’s one of them.”