Payton on Future Interest in Free Agents: 'Hay's Never in the Barn'

Denver isn't done adding to its squad.

Following Thursday's conclusion of mandatory minicamp, the Denver Broncos head into a six-week respite before the dog days of training camp, during which little roster activity is anticipated.

But when camp rolls around, and league-wide cutdowns take hold, the Broncos will be ready to pounce on some who shake loose. That was coach Sean Payton's modus operandi in New Orleans — and now his in the Mile High City.

"We had a meeting last night—the last personnel meeting before we get back here for training camp," Payton explained Thursday. "We discussed areas. I don’t want to use the term ‘where we are thin,’ but here’s where we’re heavy relative to the current 90-man roster. Here’s where we might be a tick light. This might be what we’re looking for. I would say that exists 365 days a year. It didn’t used to, but it does now.

"I’ll give you one last example. That final cut down from 90 [players] to 53 [players]—it happens on one night. There’s a lot of work that’s done leading up to that. You’re watching film, and you have roughly over a day to look at who’s available. We tell our players all the time, ‘You’re not just competing with the depth chart in your room, you’re competing with your room on 31 other teams, as well.’ We weren’t looking for [Saints tight end/quarterback] Taysom Hill when we found him. We were looking at another receiver for a practice squad position. We kept watching the film. This was 11:30 at night. I finally call [Saints VP/Assistant General Manager - College Personnel Jeff] Ireland in and said, ‘Who is this No. 7?’ He tells me, ‘It’s Taysom Hill.’ I asked him to bring me all of his tape. A day later, we put a claim in, and we were awarded Taysom Hill. That doesn’t stop. The hay is never in the barn, relative to things like that, if that’s a fair answer.”

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The Broncos hosted a slew of tryout players during the minicamp — including veteran kicker Randy Bullock and running back Benny Snell — none of whom will be signed "at this time," 9NEWS' Mike Klis reported.

"Maybe later," Klis added.

The team also isn't expected to seriously pursue big-name free agents such as RB Dalvin Cook and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, at least not now.

Things could, and very likely will, change in the near future, however.

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