Broncos’ Sean Payton to Get Cataracts Surgery After Vision Mishap Last Season

Kristen Wong | Jun 12, 2024

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Broncos’ outlook for the 2024-25 season may not be crystal clear, but at least one member of the team will be viewing things in a different light.

Coach Sean Payton is set to undergo cataracts surgery on his right eye on Wednesday, having already gotten the same surgery on his left eye last week, Mike Klis of 9News reported Tuesday. Payton was seen wearing sunglasses during the Broncos’ first day of minicamp as a result of his recent eye surgery.

Payton’s eyesight was apparently so poor last season that at one point, he called the wrong play. 

“I want to get my eyes fixed, so I call the right play and I don’t mess up and call the wrong play on a play that happened one time this year," Payton said back on Jan 9. “That was embarrassing.”

The 60-year-old coach declined to get into specifics about which play he erroneously read on the call sheet.

With Payton’s eyesight getting corrected this offseason, he can turn his sights on improving a Broncos squad that went 8-9 in his first year as head coach. Sans the released Russell Wilson, Denver’s quarterback room looks drastically different this year as rookie Bo Nix, the much-maligned Zach Wilson and returning backup Jarrett Stidham will jostle for the starting position.

Payton has so far declined to name a starting quarterback for the upcoming season, though Nix, the Broncos’ No. 12 pick out of Oregon, has been touted to come out on top this summer.