Denver Broncos 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. 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.
Acquired Talent 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 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. 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. In December 2010, Sundquist interviewed for the open GM position with the San Francisco 49ers. Sundquist was also a candidate included in the New York Jets 2013 GM search. 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. In his book he describes the bases needed to discover persons' abilities and talents while adding to team cooperation to achieve any business goal. 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. In 2010 he also was a director of player personnel for the
Omaha Nighthawks in the
UFL. ==References==