Every year, the Denver Broncos hold an annual Media BBQ the day before the start of training camp, to kick off each season and mark a new beginning, so to speak. That was perhaps more true this year than ever before.
As former All-Pro safety Justin Simmons, who has been a part of one winning season in six years with the team, said that late-July afternoon, “It feels like it’s all new.”
“Obviously, with coach Hackett and new ownership, it’s just new,” Simmons said of the massive changes at the top of the organization. “There is just so much buzz and excitement — it’s really exciting. I know I have gotten up here every year and talked about how excited I am for the season and how I really feel confident and comfortable with the group that we have going in , but this year is just a little different than years prior. I’m really excited for the year.”
Simmons is not alone in his excitement. Broncos fans have been itching for the team to become a regular playoff presence again coming off five straight losing seasons. That’s the same number of losing seasons the team had total under the late Pat Bowlen and his trust between 1984 and 2015.
Paton, who replaced Broncos legend John Elway as the team’s highest-level personnel executive, has shown the ability to quickly infuse talent on this roster. Hackett, known for his energy and offensive mind, helped Aaron Rodgers win back-to-back MVPs in Green Bay, which brings a lot of optimism. But the real shiny new piece is the signal-caller. The Broncos are known for having Hall of Fame quarterback play. Before being enshrined in Canton, Elway and Peyton Manning both brought championships to Denver.
So, when the Wilson trade went down, presumably ending the madness of Denver’s recent quarterback shuffle (11 different quarterbacks have started for Denver since Manning’s retirement in 2015), there were staff members that literally went jumping down the halls of the team’s headquarters in Englewood , per a team source. Paton and Hackett might be the ones who deserve the credit for getting Wilson to Denver, but it’s Wilson himself who has instantly changed the culture.
“Obviously, we had a big trade, and it was game-changing,” Paton said of acquiring Wilson. “It was game-changing for our locker room, the day-to-day, and for our football team. Everything [QB Russell Wilson] brings here. We know what type of player he is.”
If you’re keeping score at home, the Broncos now have a GM known to wear out film into the wee hours of the night, a head coach with an ability to connect with players on a deep level and a quarterback that, before he himself likely lands in Canton, has suggested he expects to play 12 years in orange and blue. All three of these new pieces look like they could be locked in for some time under a new regime that is expected to steady a franchise that has been though eight years of ownership uncertainty.
Spending the first week of training camp with the Broncos at their facility, you could definitely feel that something was different. Change is often accompanied by an uneasy feeling about what’s to come. And obviously there is a little bit of that. But also, there is a sense that a weight has been lifted off everyone’s collective shoulders within the organization.
The Broncos have been operating without an actual owner since Bowlen stepped down in July of 2014 due to his battle with Alzheimer’s. (Bowlen passed away in 2019, the same year he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.) The team was placed in the hands of a trust that has been under the operation of CEO and President Joe Ellis, counsel Rich Slivka and attorney Mary Kelly, with Ellis running the day-to-day operation of the team for the last eight years. The Broncos announced after the owners’ vote on Tuesday that Ellis is stepping down from his position but has agreed to serve as an advisor to ownership for the 2022 season.
Ellis, as well as many others within the organization, deserve credit for guiding the organization under challenging circumstances, per league sources. Behind the scenes, Ellis and the trust worked to fulfill Bowlen’s wishes to identify which of his children could serve as his successor by fulfilling the criteria the late owner laid out. Tension and very public lawsuits, including several between the Bowlen children, persisted. Brittany Bowlen was ultimately determined to be the only viable candidate to eventually run the team, but it became clear that a unanimous agreement among the siblings on her appointment was never going to happen.
The Broncos were officially put up for sale on Feb. 1, and numerous highly qualified suitors immediately became interested in buying the franchise. Bowlen did a remarkable job building the Broncos’ brand on and off the field. He built a franchise that was known for winning, compiling seven Super Bowl appearances and three titles, an organization acknowledged for its work in the community and a mentality that he would do anything for his players if it helped them gain a competitive edge toward winning. Bowlen was rare in how he interacted with players, often times working out alongside them at the facility. Those relationships were important to Bowlen. They’re important to Wilson, as well.
“Being able to talk to Mr. Walton himself and being able to talk to Greg and Carrie, it’s an honor to be able to do that in the first place,” Wilson said. “In today’s age of football, that relationship between players and owners is so critical because we’re playing for ourselves and our families, but we’re also playing for them, too. We’re playing for this whole city. To be able to have that bond and that kind of relationship — you notice it a lot in basketball, particularly, with some of the ownership groups. There are some in football, too. That’s been important.”