Kelly Kleine Van Calligan, a Broncos official, interviewed for the position of general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders, two people confirmed to The Post on Wednesday evening.
Kleine Van Calligan, Denver’s special assistant to the general manager and executive director of football operations, is widely regarded as a rising talent in football front office circles. She’s been with the Broncos for three years and previously worked with George Paton in Minnesota.
This is Kleine Van Calligan’s first documented general manager interview. She has been in the NFL for 12 years, oversees the Broncos’ front office, and has scouting experience at both the college and professional levels.
There has only been one woman to serve as an NFL general manager in league history, Susan Tose Spencer in Philadelphia in the 1980s, but Kleine Van Calligan is one of several skilled and deserving contenders across the league.
She has also attended many of the league’s front office accelerator programs in recent seasons.
“It was really, really good for all of us (participants) to meet each other, too,” she told The Post following one of these events in 2022. “You got to meet the owners and know them personally, but it was huge for potential head coaches and GMs just to get to know each other because these are the people hopefully getting hired eventually and boom, you have connections.”
Champ Kelly is currently Las Vegas’ temporary general manager and is regarded as a strong candidate for the permanent position. If Kleine Van Calligan is hired as general manager, the Broncos will be eligible to receive third-round draft picks in successive drafts for assisting in the development of a minority candidate for the position.
