George Paton, Broncos general manager, is Denver’s biggest turnaround

George Paton should have been fired.

Now, he deserves his flowers.

Of all the stunning improvements experienced by the Broncos over the past two seasons, one transformation has gone largely unnoticed. It doesn’t involve a player, like Jonathon Cooper. Or a formerly embattled coach, like defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

It is the remarkable rebound by Paton. You remember him? He was John Elway’s handpicked general manager in 2021. He hired Nathaniel Hackett and traded for Russell Wilson — two of the biggest embarrassments in Broncos history.

Because of the worst things that happened, Paton has stitched together Denver’s best roster since 2016.

So, as this team embraces Super Bowl expectations, it is time to thank Paton.

Seriously.

When the Broncos collapsed into chaos in 2022 — with Hackett failing to finish his first season and Wilson steering the league’s lowest-scoring offense — Paton was miscast. He looked like a former assistant GM who wasn’t ready for the big chair or capable of surviving the Broncos’ Shakespearean ownership drama.

Paton remained well-respected in league circles. But Broncos Country was ready for someone else — anybody, really — to get a shot at reviving the once-proud franchise.

Instead, co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner did the unthinkable. They did not can Paton at the end of the 2022 season. They showed patience, reserving judgment, while leaning on his experience and contacts to navigate the coaching search.

If Paton were an egomaniac like so many pro execs, he would have directed his bosses toward a candidate he knew well, like, say, Dan Quinn.