Broncos GM: ‘We have to get an impact player’

In the Broncos’ annual pre-Draft presser, the head coach and GM went by the playbook and said nothing.

Six days out, and Broncos Country is no closer to knowing anything — not even a smidgeon — about what the Denver Broncos plan to do with their first-round pick in the draft.

It’s got to be a quarterback, no matter what, right?

“You would say, ‘Man, it sure looks like we have to draft a quarterback,’” Payton said in the annual pre-Draft presser Thursday. “And yet, it has to be the right fit and the right one. If we had the tip sheets as to who everyone else was taking, it would be easier to answer that question. That’s the puzzle here.”

Paton chimed in behind him that the worst move would be to “force” a QB in that No. 12 spot.

“Otherwise, we will be in this position next year and the years after. You want to get the right player at No. 12,” Paton said. “Our first pick we have to hit on, whether it’s a quarterback, whether it’s a tackle, a receiver or you name it. We need to get an impact player.”

So it’s not a quarterback?

“I’m not going to talk about our board right now,” the GM added, saying he had no plans of revealing their rankings of the quarterbacks either. “I appreciate the question. I do think that it’s a good quarterback class. I’m not going to go there.”

So it is a quarterback, but maybe not at pick No. 12?

“We have all of the tape, and then you are gathering as much information as you can,” Payton said, naming things such as metrics, interviews, personalities and learning styles. “It’s not a perfect science.”

But it’s not without a system, either.

Payton explained he groups players according to their ability to learn – A learners (processing happens right away); B learners and C learners.

So what are the chances the Broncos just throw caution to the wind — along with a whole bunch of future draft picks — to leapfrog ahead and move up to get J.J. McCarthy?

Well, they are not zero.

“I would just say if it’s a player that you think can change the landscape of your organization moving forward, like quarterback,” Paton said. “Then you do whatever it takes to get him.”