AFC Notes: Dre Greenlaw, Evan Engram, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos HC Sean Payton was asked about potential injury concerns regarding their new free agent signings. Veterans like LB Dre Greenlaw, S Talanoa Hufanga and TE Evan Engram all have extensive injury histories. 

“A lot of it had to do with how we handle the offseason and how we handle training camp,” Payton said, via BroncosWire.com. “Quite honestly, there were a couple of them that maybe we would’ve had a much more difficult time signing had there not been a prior injury. We felt with those guys, there is always that risk evaluation that is measured and we felt pretty good about it. We feel like in our program, we will be smart enough to understand their workload and all the things to try to get them healthy to the field. There is always some risk to that.”

“We do extensive physicals on everyone we bring in,” GM George Paton added. “They’re no different. They all passed their physicals, so they’ll be 100 percent as we get into the offseason program. We have a great medical team, and we rely on them. We feel good.”

Chiefs

• Regarding Chiefs’ first-round OT Josh Simmons, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN writes that most teams he talked to weren’t overly concerned with his recovery from a torn patellar tendon, and “character concerns” kept him out of the top 20. 
• One AFC personnel executive explained Simmons does not work hard in practice or in run blocking: “Certain things are important to him — pass blocking, game day — but others are not, such as practices and run blocking.”
• One NFL executive believes the Chiefs have raised their floor by drafting first-round OT Josh Simmons and signing OT Jaylon Moore: “I think they are raising the floor and do not need to be great at that position. The quarterback makes up for so much deficiency up front. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady made up the difference for their teams too.” (Mike Sando)

Raiders

Raiders GM John Spytek shared his feelings about the defensive players who were drafted by the team, including Iowa State CB Darien Porter and Ole Miss DT JJ Pegues.

“Guys like him are cool because that to me, I think, shows the connection between the scouting staff and the coaching staff,” Spytek said via the team website. “It’s very easy to recognize that Darien Porter is an elite-level athlete. From the testing numbers, the 4.31, to the vertical, which I think was around 40, to the shuttle times, which were elite. His size at almost 6’3, there’s so much elite physical ability in his body, but he’s not a full-time starter. He’s making a transition. When you have Coach Carroll and Joe Woods and ‘PG’ (Patrick Graham) and all of them say, ‘We would love to work with this guy. This is who we’re looking for.’ As a scout, that really is empowering because it’s like, OK, we can bring players like him to the staff and they’re going to work with them and they can have a vision for them. Hopefully, the coaches realize too that we’ll be able to bring them players like that in the future that maybe aren’t finished products or it’s not a crystal clear vision for them. But through some communication between the two staffs, we can have a shared vision for what they can be for our team. And then you end up with an elite level athlete that’s a great kid that fits in perfectly to Coach Carroll and PG’s scheme.”

“He’s a great kid,” Spytek said of Pegues. “We brought him in here on a top 30 visit. He was part of our Top Golf night and just a fun good-natured person that loves to play football. It provides a great feel for how these kids will act and move in your building. A lot of times they let their guards down around support staff and treat people a certain way. We’ve put a premium on bringing the right people in. So, it’s become less about, ‘Oh, was he kind of a pain in the ass or did he disrespect people?’ It’s more been like, ‘Gosh, that person was amazing. God, he was fun to be around. Man, he treated people the right way. He just loved the energy and the spirit of being here.’ And we kind of let these kids elevate themselves a little bit. It doesn’t take too long after you’ve been doing this as many years as I have, even if it’s only half an hour on FaceTime.”