Broncos Executive Director of Football Ops Kelly Kleine joins ‘Nick and Cecil’

On Tuesday’s edition of ‘Nick and Cecil’ we were able to talk to Denver Broncos Executive Director of Football Operations Kelly Kleine. The Broncos hired Kleine a little over a year ago to work at the top of the scouting department and to serve as a Special Assistant to General Manager George Paton.

Kleine began working in the NFL as a public relations game day intern with the Minnesota Vikings in 2012. From there, she spent many years in the scouting department for the Vikings honing her craft and her eye for talent. She was a college scout mostly, working in the North and the Midwest scouting talent coming into the league. Now with the Broncos, Kleine is involved in college and pro scouting – working with Paton on everything from tracking data from practices to pro scouting and she was involved in the head coaching interviews this offseason.

She’s one of the up-and-coming talents in the scouting community, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Kleine be the first female GM in the NFL someday soon.

Here are some highlights from our interview with Kleine:

***

Brought to you by the Letter “E”

I’ve written many times at DenverFan.com about the different energy around the team. Since quarterback Russell Wilson was traded to Denver, things have changed around the building. The team has no mystery about who the quarterback is or how far this team can go. So, to start off our interview with Kleine I had to ask her about the energy around the Broncos this offseason.

“Energy is the perfect word for it. It’s the offseason, so we haven’t lost any games yet but of course it’s fun. It’s fun to come in every day. We’re growing as a team, we’re growing as a group, and growing with our personnel and our coaches together. It’s been really positive. We’re pumped…everyone’s pumped to come back to [training] camp and get rolling.” Kleine said.

***

Women in Scouting

There is no doubt that football is a male-dominated industry. Most coaches are male, and certainly in the scouting community most are male as well. Kleine has been a trailblazer for females in the scouting world. Nick wanted to ask her about that journey and how the NFL is working to find more females for scouting roles. He also included his opinion (which I share) that Kleine could one day be the first female GM in the NFL.

“I’m not thinking that far ahead, but I appreciate that! It’s amazing to me. I started in the NFL 10 years ago, almost 11 years ago now. The amount of women in personnel and coaching has grown. It’s needed and it needs to grow a ton more. There are some really good women in the college ranks that want to move up, and we need to create more opportunities for them. The NFL has done a great job, teams are doing their own programs, we’re all just connecting with each other and trying to find more women.” Kleine said.

***

Importance of All Star Games

I talk about the Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl so much that listeners have made a drinking game out of it. I’ve gone to both games every year since 2007, and I fully believe those games are an important part of the scouting process. Kleine came up in the scouting ranks, and she knows the type of work that goes into scouting during those two weeks at the end of January when the NFL descends on these two All-Star Games. Because I’m a scouting nerd, I wanted to know what she thought of these games and how important they are to the pre-draft process.

“It’s so important because you get to see these guys compete – especially these lower level (FCS or Division III) guys. I remember seeing Quinn Meinerz last year at the Senior Bowl. Everyone was dying to see him compete against higher level competition, and he did a great job. I think that’s so extremely important. Just getting in front of these guys, getting to know them, talking to them, getting to know if they’re dedicated, if they’re a good kid – if they love ball. It’s good bonding for our scouts and personnel department too.” Kleine said.

***

Full Interview

To listen to the full interview with Broncos Executive Director of Football Operations Kelly Kleine click here.

Related

In Broncos loss, they got a win in something specific that truly matteredBo Nix happy with ‘solid’ first TD drive, says return ‘was like riding a bike’Sean Payton unhappy after Packers demolish Broncos, sends message to startersBroncos waste no time getting Jaylen Waddle involved in his preseason debutBo Nix throws a TD, leads two scoring drives in return from broken ankleBroncos CB Moss leaves game with rib injury