When everything was buttoned up — new coach hired, new quarterback acquired, second draft completed and new ownership group selected to buy the Broncos — general manager George Paton was finally able to get away for two weeks this summer.

The Paton family traveled to Costa Rica.

“That’s our happy place,” he said last month during an interview with The Denver Post in his second-floor office. “Getting on that plane was really good.”

Also really good, Paton hopes, were the moves he made in his second offseason running the Broncos’ football operation.

The changes started less than 24 hours after the Broncos lost to Kansas City to complete a sixth consecutive year out of the playoffs and a fifth consecutive losing season, things that are unheard of around these parts.

Jan. 9: Paton fired coach Vic Fangio after three years and a 19-30 record.

Jan. 27: A travel-by-private-plane search spanning the country ended with the hiring of Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, followed by a massive staff turnover.

Feb. 1: The Broncos were put up for sale.

Feb. 3: Paton promoted Darren Mougey from player personnel director to assistant general manager, solidifying him as the No. 2 person on the football side of the front office.

March 8: Paton traded three players, two first- and second-round picks apiece and a fifth-round selection for Wilson.

Late April: Paton’s second draft was completed.

June 7: The Walton-Penner Ownership Group agreed to buy the Broncos for $4.65 billion.

Get all that?

“It was like back-to-back years of starting over,” said Paton, who was then quick to add that “there are so many great people that have been here a long, long time that I lean on.”

Paton said Year 1 of being a general manager felt “very natural,” likely because of his experience in Minnesota as Rick Spielman’s chief lieutenant.

“Very comfortable,” Paton added. “I just knew we had to get better (after last year).”

First up was hiring Hackett, who was a stark detour from Fangio.

“There are challenges of going through a coaching search and getting a bunch of new (assistant) coaches,” Paton said. “What’s the personnel that fits the schemes?”

Creating a rapport with Hackett was critical.

“The No. 1 thing for me is the relationship with the head coach and now the new owners and that doesn’t happen overnight,” Paton said. “Nathaniel and I are tied at the hip. I’m as close with him as I have been with any coach (in his personnel career).”

Paton began communicating with the ownership group after they agreed to the purchase, so there wouldn’t need to be introductory handshakes once the sale was approved on Aug. 9.

“We had great discussions through the process,” he said. “You don’t do it in one day. 100%, I’ll learn more from them than them from me (about) managing people and the entire football operation. I’ll learn a lot from them.”

Paton, in the second season of a six-year contract signed in January 2021, finally got to exhale while in Costa Rica.

“I was still taking calls and texts and you’re never really off the grid,” he said. “But it was a good time. Get up, work out, body surf for two hours. We just love getting into the ocean.”

Fast forwarding six-plus months, what Paton would really love is getting the Broncos into the playoffs.