At 3 a.m., March 12, exactly 12 hours before the floodgates opened on free agency, general manager George Paton‘s right-hand man was zipping to the hospital.
The Broncos’ war room was already stretched thin, trusted generals recently gone from Dove Valley after years of service. Heading into a pivotal offseason stretch, Paton had no assistant general manager after Darren Mougey left for the Jets. Executive director of football operations, Kelly Kleine Van Calligan, was on maternity leave. VP of football operations Mark Thewes left for the Raiders. Heck, Mougey poached Paton’s nephew away for a scouting job in New York.