AFC Notes: Justin Herbert, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs

Broncos

Broncos HC Sean Payton said that the team compared TE Adam Trautman to a handful of other tight ends the team was looking at in the third round which caused them to pull the trigger on the trade with New Orleans.

“We comped him to a handful of the tight ends that we were discussing in this draft. We drafted Adam in the third round, and ironically we were comping him to a few of the other third-round players. He’s clean, great makeup, great character,” Payton said, via Saints Wire.

Payton particularly liked the idea of swapping late-round picks to get a known commodity in a player that he’s familiar with.

“I think part of that became available because New Orleans, they were able to sign a tight end, and I’m sure they were looking at the long-term plans with Adam,” Payton said. “So we felt this was one of the needs for us coming in, we couldn’t force that, so when we passed that little area, or sweet spot of tight ends, having drafted another player yesterday, this came up and we felt really like, it’s flipping picks and all of a sudden getting a player that we have a clear vision for.”

Chargers

Chargers GM Tom Telesco seemed to imply that the team wouldn’t be looking at other quarterback contracts when it came to a new deal for QB Justin Herbert.

“Any time there is a contract signed at that position, yeah, it’s going to come up in conversation,” Telesco said. “I wouldn’t say there is any quarterback contract out there that is a blueprint. I wouldn’t say that at all. But, like anything else, there’ll be contracts that’ll be talked about. We’ll cherry-pick some things out of that contract we like. The agent will cherry-pick some things out of that contract that he likes. In the end, we’ll get to a compromise at some point, something that works for everybody. That’s what we’ll do here. I don’t really have a timeframe for it, to be honest with you, but we’ll get there.”

Chiefs

Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borzongi raved about second-round WR Rashee Rice and third-round OL Wanya Morris, who bring versatility to their respective positions.

“So we had two picks tonight,” Borgonzi said, via Chiefs Wire. “(We) felt good about both picks. Two offensive guys, obviously. The first one, Rashee Rice, SMU. You know, explosive, fast‐twitch kid, really good with the ball after the catch – he’s like a running back after the catch. So, he can play inside, he can play outside so coaches will find a way to get him involved in the offense but feel really good about him and then with second pick we took Wanya Morris out of Oklahoma, tackle. You know, (he) played right tackle at Oklahoma and also played, he was at Tennessee before, first couple years and actually played beside Trey Smith playing left tackle. (He’s a) big, long athletic guy that will get in the mix here at tackle. So, excited about both picks.”

Borgonzi said the team traded up to secure their guys and didn’t want to let another team select them before they had the opportunity to.

“We have a cluster of guys that we’re looking at and we felt like, Veach just said, ‘Let’s go up and get our guy.’ So I think heading into this night here we were targeting some wide receivers and Rashee was our guy so we went up and got him and that was really it,” Borgonzi said. “And then we got to the third round, and we had a cluster of guys and knew we wanted to get a tackle and Wanya was the guy we were going after.”