George Paton on Working With Vic Fangio: 'It’s Been Better Than I Anticipated'
When longtime Denver Broncos GM John Elway decided to step down from the position and push the franchise into a further state of flux, questions about the future of third-year head coach Vic Fangio began to come to a rolling boil. After all, Fangio's Broncos have underachieved with a record of 11-21 over his first two seasons with a litany of questionable coaching decisions directly affecting a handful of close losses.
But rather than moving on from Fangio at the time, team president Joe Ellis and Elway chose to allow Vic to have a seat at the table during the search for the team's new GM.
It was an uncommon vote of confidence to allow a coach heading into a season in which he was directly on the hot seat to participate in such a macro decision, especially considering that oftentimes new GMs will be looking to stick their fingerprints on their new organization by bringing in a new coaching staff as their first moves at the helm.
However, having Fangio in those interviews helped to kick off what has apparently been an incredible working relationship between he and new GM George Paton.
"It’s gone great. Vic’s been really good," Paton said in a press conference on Thursday. "We have constant dialogue with Vic and his coaches. We did a deep dive into our team. I went into Vic’s office last night at 8:45 and he was watching college prospects."
Part of the reason these two have come in lockstep from the jump is that they see eye-to-eye on how to build the roster; by drafting and developing quality players to build a roster that has as much depth as possible.
"We’re like-minded," Paton said of Fangio. "We both like to work and we like to talk football. He has a great sense of humor. It’s been really good, and it’s been better than I anticipated.”
Paton and Fangio are both 'tape junkies', taking any and every opportunity to grind the film and evaluate talent. With multiple reports and video evidence of Paton arriving at the team's facility at 4:30 in the morning, and now these words from Paton himself about how Fangio is deep-diving into the late hours of the night, there's little doubt these two have an incredible amount in common with each other.
Fangio agrees wholeheartedly and has even higher praise for Paton.
"The relationship has been great so far," Fangio explained on Thursday. "George has come in here with boots to the ground, working his butt off and watching a ton of film. He did a deep dive on our team. We worked hard on the free agency aspect of it, and we’re now into the draft part of it."
Maybe the fact that Paton and Fangio are in the same wave length will be a boon for the Broncos, potentially one strong enough to secure the head coach's uncertain future with the team. Undoubtedly, how this season progresses and unfolds will determine his fate, but if Paton sees enough improvement from this squad under the tutelage of a man that he has an incredible amount of respect for, there is a significant possibility that Fangio may be retained to play out the final year of his contract.
"I’ve been very impressed with how he goes about his business," Fangio said of Paton. "[He’s] very knowledgeable around the league in every facet—with the agents, players, and contacts. I think we have a great, great one here."
All in all, the fact that Paton and Fangio have been aligned on their vision of the franchise is good news for Broncos country. There has been enough turmoil with this franchise since Super Bowl 50, including a massive roster turnover and three different head coaches in the past five seasons.
Having a fresh outlook at GM combined with continuity in the coaching staff could be the shot in the arm this team desperately needs to return to glory in the next couple of seasons.
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