Deliberations, phone calls, tape evaluation rule cutdown weekend for Broncos GM George Paton, staff

Every day at 8 a.m. sharp, Broncos general manager George Paton rounds up his front-office executives and pro scouts. The topic is as consistent as the meeting’s start time.

Which players might be available on the waiver wire or trade market and would said players make the Broncos better?

All those talks will reach a climax in the estimated 64 hours between the end of Saturday’s preseason finale against Minnesota and Tuesday’s 2 p.m. deadline to establish an initial 53-man roster.

“The big meeting is after the Minnesota game,” Paton said during an interview with The Denver Post earlier this month.

Eighty players must become 53.

Roster decisions on a sixth receiver or fullback, fifth inside linebacker or sixth edge rusher, etc., must be made.

And medical questions must be answered, because a player put on injured reserve Tuesday is done for the season. But if they are on the initial roster, they can be shifted to injured reserve Wednesday and miss only four games.

After the “big” meeting, Paton said: “Myself, (coach) Nathaniel (Hackett), the coordinators and some of my people will talk afterward and we’ll get it down (to 53).”

Hackett has found the personnel meetings beneficial.

“It’s great,” he said. “Looking at it, you’re always focused on offense and you just want all the offensive guys (on the roster) — offense, offense, offense. Then when you get to hear those descriptions of the guys, you can say, ‘Well, maybe we need that guy because he’s going to help us somehow, someway.’ It definitely puts things into perspective as a full team compared to just one side of the ball. It’s great to be a part of all three (phases) now.”

Paton walked The Post through the process involved in cutting down the roster and scouring other teams’ moves.

Teams will begin to waive players Sunday and Monday. During training camp, Paton assigns each of his executives and pro personnel people multiple teams to monitor. Essentially, they are the general manager of those teams and log their scouting reports and grades onto the Broncos’ internal computer system.

“They evaluate the games (of their assigned teams) and if somebody sticks out, they’ll come to me or text me and then I’ll watch that player,” Paton said.

Paton said the Broncos have a grading system for bubble players. A — player worth claiming to a 53-man roster. B — practice squad grade. C — camp body. D — worth bringing in for a workout.

A hypothetical: If the Broncos are searching for defensive line help, Paton can query all of the “A” graded linemen and start comparing them to players on the roster.

“These are the players we anticipate being available; we know who their star players are,” he said.

Ideally, the Broncos will have grades on all players who hit the waiver wire. As many as 800 players could be available to claim Tuesday night leading into Wednesday. Teams also start building their 16-man practice squad.

“The busy time is Tuesday night as we compare those names to our roster,” Paton said. “If somebody says, ‘Hey, this certain player would upgrade us,’ we’ll monitor it and see if he gets waived.

“It’s a lot of players to evaluate, but it’s what we do at this time of year.”

What Paton also does at this time of year is probe the league for trades. If the Broncos get wind of a player who will be waived, they will reach out to the team. Last year, they acquired inside linebacker Jonas Griffith from San Francisco with a seven-round pick for sixth- and seventh-round picks; if healthy, he will start Sept. 12 at Seattle.

“We call every team, whether it’s me, (assistant general manager) Darren (Mougey) or (director of pro personnel) A.J. Durso,” Paton said. “We liked Jonas on tape and we looked at their (roster) numbers and knew it would be hard for them to keep him..”

The Broncos will be working the phones this weekend, but will be disciplined. Paton likes to enter a draft with 10 picks, but currently has only five for 2023 — two in the third round and single picks in rounds 4-5 and 7.

“We want to win this year so we’re not going to trade a player that would hurt us,” he said. “But we want more picks. It may not happen at the 53-man cut or during the season, but we’re always thinking about it.”

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