Ted Sundquist

Sundquist joined the Broncos in 1993 as a scout as player personnel assistant (1992–1994), director of scouting from 1995 to 2001 and then promoted to general manager, where he stayed during six years from 2002 to 2008.^[3]

At the age of 33 Sundquist served as college scouting director and was in that role during the Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1997 and 1998. He supervised pro and college scouting, and was responsible for salary cap and contract analysis. Sundquist was promoted to GM in 2002 by owner Pat Bowlen after being pursued by both the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons organizations. He was also a finalist for the president position with the Seattle Seahawks in 2004. He started at GM with five consecutive winning seasons, a franchise record. Sundquist left the Broncos following a 7–9 record in 2007 Denver Broncos season.^[1] Denver reached the playoffs three times under Sundquist being manager. Sundquist helped Denver attract free agents such as John Lynch, Daniel Graham and Travis Henry.^[4]

During his tenure, Sundquist helped Denver land players such as John Lynch, Daniel Graham, Al Wilson, John Mobley, Brandon Marshall, Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Clinton Portis (WAS), Reggie Hayward (JAX), Trevor Pryce (BAL), Brian Griese (TB), Deltha O'Neal (NE), and Nick Harris (DET). Sundquist was known^{[by whom?]} for being one of the more active GMs in player acquisition through drafting, signing free agents and trades.

Under Sundquist, the Broncos became one of the league's most active traders. His most notable move came just before the 2004 season, when he dealt star running back Clinton Portis to the Washington Redskins in exchange for cornerback Champ Bailey, another to obtain Dre Bly from the Detroit Lions, and a No. 2 draft pick that turned out to be Tatum Bell. He also engineered a 2006 draft-day deal with St. Louis allowing Denver to move from the No. 29 overall pick to No. 11, where they selected Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler. As a result, Sundquist's GM term was the start of a franchise-record five consecutive winning seasons.^[1]

In the 2008-2009 football season, Sundquist worked as an expert analyst and editorial commentator with ProFootballTalk.com.^[5] In early 2009, Sundquist was mentioned in several general manager searches across the National Football League, including the Kansas City Chiefs who interviewed Sundquist for their open GM position.^[6] In December 2010, Sundquist interviewed for the open GM position with the San Francisco 49ers.^[7] Sundquist was also a candidate included in the New York Jets 2013 GM search.^[8] Sundquist released his first book on June 7, 2013, titled Taking Your Team to the Top: How to Build and Manage Great Teams like the Pros.^[9] In his book he describes the bases needed to discover persons' abilities and talents while adding to team cooperation to achieve any business goal.^[10]

From 2008 to 2013 he was a member of the board of directors for the Air Force Academy Athletic Foundation which supports the programs of the Athletic Department of the United States Air Force Academy.^[11] In 2010 he also was a director of player personnel for the Omaha Nighthawks in the UFL.^[12]

• The Football Educator