Patrick Surtain II is the best player on Denver’s roster for most fans and pundits, but general manager George Paton might see him as something else.

I had a conversation with a Broncos insider on Wednesday at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, during a media luncheon with players from practise. Among various topics surrounding the Broncos, the casual conversation with the insider turned to Russell Wilson and the pickle the team finds itself in.

While discussing options for moving into 2024 at the position, the insider told me that he believed Patrick Surtain could be used in a mega deal to move up in the NFL Draft to draft a top quarterback prospect.

It’s still early, but if the Denver Broncos decide to pull off another mega move this offseason, and they believe wholeheartedly that they can get their quarterback for the future, they could make the trade.

The insider laid out a potential trade scenario of at least one first-round pick and Patrick Surtain II for a top pick in the NFL Draft.

Rumored Patrick Surtain II trade package tracks with George Paton era

George Paton at Oregon vs Colorado
General manager John Elway was rather conservative in his approach to generating talent for his team in the later stages of his tenure. In comparison, Paton has been nearly the complete opposite. Outside of selecting Patrick Surtain II, the general manager has sold the farm for Russell Wilson and Sean Payton.

Despite the big swings, the team has failed to finish a year over .500, but there has arguably been progress. The team went 5-12 in Paton’s first season following the Wilson trade but jumped to an 8-9 record with another big gamble. As such, there seems to remain an apparent chance that Paton has calculated that big swings have worked.

That means another big swing could theoretically be in the works if he’s thinking that way. Senior Bowl week has historically been a big week for the general manager in laying the groundwork for a massive swing.

Two years ago, Paton’s Wilson-Drew Lock trade was born at the event with Seahawks general manager John Schneider. One can only wait and see if another such trade was born in Mobile, Alabama.

Rumored trade further hurts Russell Wilson’s hopes to salvage hopes in Denver

Russell Wilson at Denver Broncos v Los Angeles Chargers
The one most affected by the trade rumors has been Russell Wilson, who once again has left a season in seemingly a worse position than it started. At the start of 2022, hopes were sky-high, and Wilson had the full backing of the fanbase and the entire building.

At the end of the year, their trust appeared to be shaken by getting Super Bowl-winning head coach Sean Payton, one of the only coaches available with a resume that rivaled Wilson’s. Payton chose to invoke his rank, benching the quarterback near the end of the 2023 season, which served as the first such move in Wilson’s career.

If the Broncos decide to move up via a Patrick Surtain II trade package for a quarterback, it would seem that the pressure to start him would skyrocket. That, in turn, would place more pressure on Wilson if he’s still around.

Wilson may then feel pressure to push the ball downfield in organically, which would lead to interceptions, speeding up his replacement’s arrival. Either way, the quarterback’s future gets murkier by the day.