Broncos' Sean Payton Earns Top-Tier Spot on Latest NFL HC Rankings

Sean Payton has successfully turned around the Denver Broncos after just two years. Payton's stunning accomplishments came on the heels of one head coach after another failing to get the job done over an unprecedented eight-year span of the Broncos missing the playoffs, seven of which were sub-.500 finishes.

Entering Year 3 with the Broncos, in the estimation of Pro Football Focus' Dalton Wasserman, Payton is the second-best returning head coach in the NFL behind only Andy Reid in Kansas City.

"Payton inherited a disaster in Denver in 2023, and his quarterback, Russell Wilson, was clearly unhappy. After a 1-5 start, Payton rallied the team behind a strong defense to win seven of their final 11 games. Wilson was jettisoned, and the Broncos selected their new quarterback, Bo Nix, in the 2024 NFL Draft," Wasserman wrote.

Payton gave it the ol' college try with Wilson. When the writing was on the wall that it wasn't a good quarterback/head coach pairing, Payton had the guts and prerogative to pull the plug on Denver's quarter-billion-dollar investment.

Releasing Wilson before he'd even played a snap of the five-year, $245 million extension he'd signed in August of 2022 meant the Broncos would be incurring an NFL-record $85 million in dead-money charges on the salary cap. That was $85 million that Denver wouldn't be able to spend on personnel that its rivals and peers could.

Payton didn't flinch, jettisoning Wilson, and turning his eye toward the 2024 NFL draft. At No. 12, there was no guarantee Payton would get his guy, but Nix fell right into Denver's lap. Wasserman continues.

"Payton and Nix turned out to be a match made in heaven, giving Broncos fans a vision of Payton renewing the success he cultivated for so long in New Orleans. Denver’s defense was still strong last season, and Nix’s excellent 1.8% turnover-worthy play rate perfectly represented a team that didn’t beat itself," Wasserman wrote. "The Broncos lost only two games all season by more than one score, defeats to AFC elites Baltimore and Buffalo. Denver has only added more talent this offseason and should continue to contend with its elite head coach leading the way."

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I'm reminded of what Hall-of-Fame head coach Dick Vermeil said after the Broncos hired Payton to turn the ship around.

"If he can't do it, it can't be done," Vermeil said in the spring of 2023. "I have tremendous respect for him. To me, he and Andy Reid are the offensive coaches of the decade."

Among Payton's numerous accomplishments as Broncos head coach is the job he's done in the AFC West. The Kansas City Chiefs were sitting on a 15-game winning streak over the Broncos when Payton took the reigns. He lost the first matchup with Reid at Arrowhead in 2023, but utterly decimated Patrick Mahomes and company in the second one at Mile High, snapping the igonimious losing streak.

Payton is 2-2 against Reid's Chiefs. Were it not for a mind-boggling blocked field-goal attempt at Arrowhead in Week 10 last season, the Broncos would be 3-1 vs. their division rival since Payton took over as head coach.

It took him a year, but Payton also snapped the Las Vegas Raiders' eight-game winning streak over the Broncos. Denver swept Vegas last season with Nix under center.

Payton rocked the boat in Year 1 by shaking up the salary cap and the roster via the Wilson benching and subsequent release. Payton embraced the initial controversy, confident in his read on the situation and his ability to build a roster, and find a new quarterback in his image.

Nix is most certainly that. In their first year together, Nix passed for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns, the second most by a rookie in NFL history. The Broncos won 10 games and snapped their playoff drought, although it ended in bitter disappointment in Upstate New York.

Payton knew exactly what he was doing. His approach started by investing in the offensive line, and by the end of Year 2, the Broncos had the top one or two starting five in the NFL.

Payton invested in the defense, starting with another controversial decision: the hiring of Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator, who was only five years removed from a failed stint as head coach in Denver. Despite a rocky start, Payton stood behind Joseph, and once again, it paid off as the Broncos finished as a top-10 defense in 2024 and led the NFL in sacks with a team record 63 quarterback takedowns.

Five Broncos were selected to the A.P. All-Pro Team last season, the most for Denver since the 1990s when the franchise was winning back-to-back Super Bowls. Another marvel, and one of the biggest factors in the turnaround at Mile High, has been Payton's philosophy and expertise in player wellness and strength and conditioning, which saw the Broncos go from being one of the NFL's most snake-bitten teams to one of the healthiest in just one year.

The success of keeping players healthy and available carried over into 2024, too. It's an extremely difficult thing to do in a league where injuries are part of the game. However, if a team can minimize injuries, it becomes a significant competitive advantage.

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