Needing an answer from quarterback Russell Wilson as the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline with a $245 million deal hanging in the balance, Broncos general manager George Paton didn’t fret. He went to bed.
Paton drifted off to sleep on the final night of August at peace with the knowledge he had pushed the amount of money and length of term the Broncos were willing to offer Wilson to the max. The quarterback would either take it. Or leave it.
“We didn’t have much further we could go,” Paton told me Thursday.
“It would have been a shame if we couldn’t have figured it out … I knew we were so close, I thought the deal had to get done. But then I didn’t hear much. So you always get a little spooked.”
This deal took until the 23rd hour of the final day of negotiations to get done. Were negotiations contentious? No. But were there tense moments at the end? Absolutely.
“The deadline was midnight. That was a pressure point,” Paton said. “We didn’t want to drag it into the weekend, the season and the week we played the Seahawks. If we could get a deal done, awesome. That was our No. 1 priority with Russ when he got here (in March). But if it didn’t get done, we were just going to move on until after the season.”
The art of the biggest deal of his career as an NFL executive was subtle. If the beauty of truly great art is found in restraint, then Paton was a grandmaster, gently persuading Wilson to sign for less than top dollar.
So here’s a tip of the hat for Paton not being John Elway.
During his tenure as the executive in charge of Denver’s roster, Elway’s fiery competitiveness infused the team with a Super Bowl-or-bust mentality.
But that same uncompromising competitiveness also compelled Elway to feel as if he had to win every deal, which often irked fellow NFL execs and could rub players from Elvis Dumervil to Peyton Manning the wrong way.
In the end, a contract worth nearly a quarter-billion dollars was built on all the small things, like using a fifth-round draft pick on an undersized wide receiver named Montrell Washington who caught Wilson’s eye while watching video of draft prospects with Paton.
When push could easily have come to shove during the uncertain final hours prior to a Sept. 1 deadline to reach agreement or shove a new contract to the back burner, Paton kept his cool and went to bed.
Rather than pressing for an answer, he gave the veteran quarterback and his superstar singer spouse the space to make the family decision that Colorado was the right place for Wilson and Ciara to spend the next big chapter of their life together.
Before pen could meet paper on a contract the Broncos believe will keep the team competitive against Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert in the quarterback-rich AFC West from now through Wilson’s 40th birthday, Paton had to please two masters, both very fastidious and particular in the manner they like to do business.
On one side of these negotiations was the new ownership group, which has not only injected the $60 billion financial clout of Rob Walton into the Broncos, but has also made it clear at Dove Valley headquarters that this team will do things the Walmart way.
“We really couldn’t get in the nuts and bolts of this deal until the ownership was approved,” Paton said.
While I firmly believe new CEO Greg Penner wants to do everything in his power to restore the Broncos’ winning tradition, I also get the distinct feeling these crazy-rich Waltons had zero interest in matching the record-setting $230 million in guaranteed money the Browns used to lure quarterback Deshaun Watson to Cleveland.
The Walmart way is not to overpay. That’s not cheap. It’s smart. So Paton’s challenge was to convince Wilson and agent Mark Rodgers that being a full partner in the Broncos’ football decisions, whether it’s having influence on the playbook or input on player personnel decisions, was more important than breaking the bank to set the bar for how an elite NFL quarterback is paid.
At 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, 15 scant minutes prior to the deadline, Wilson and Ciara contacted Paton to delight the sleepy-eyed GM with news his star quarterback would accept a five-year, $245 million contract extension.
Although that’s a lot of loot, Wilson gave his new hometown team a discount. “It wasn’t about how much (money), it was about how many (championships) ,” he said.
As Paton and I sat in his office overlooking the practice fields where Wilson will dedicate himself to winning championships for the Broncos through 2028, the general manager breathed a sigh of relief.
“We wanted Russ here. You don’t make that kind of trade and give up that kind of capital without wanting him here for a very long time. It was so great to get this done and get it off our plate. You just didn’t want it lingering,” Paton said. He dreaded the idea of waiting until 2023 to resume negotiations, when perhaps Joe Burrow or Herbert could send the going rate of an elite quarterback through the roof.
“Who knows? Maybe we still could’ve got a deal done with Russ in six months. But who knows what the atmosphere will be like then, or where the numbers for quarterbacks are going? This deal is historical for the Broncos. But it’s also a huge deal because it allows us the financial flexibility to build a championship team.”
