Sean Payton: Broncos 'Are Gonna Be a Problem' in 2025 & Beyond

Sean Payton walked around Super Bowl LIX looking like the cat who caught the canary. Like he knows something no one else does.

Chad Jensen | Feb 7, 2025

NFL, American Football Herren, USA 2024: Broncos vs Chiefs NOV 10 November 10, 2024: Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, right, and Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton greet each other after a game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. / David Smith / IMAGO / Newscom World

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Denver Broncos

Right before the Denver Broncos' Wildcard tilt on the road vs. the Buffalo Bills, head coach Sean Payton extolled the virtues of a "young and hungry" team and how "dangerous" such a squad can be. It didn't shake out well in Upstate New York, as the Bills pulled away in the second half and exposed the Broncos' roster vulnerabilities and inexperience, but Payton is still holding onto the threat a young team can pose in the NFL.

With Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Payton returned to his "home" of 16 years and made the rounds on the media circuit. One of his sit-downs was with Kay Adams of the Up & Adams Show, and Payton would go on to make several newsworthy statements, all of which have been deserving of individual coverage.

One of the most interesting was Payton's message to the NFL.

"There's something dangerous about a young team because they don't know what they don't know," Payton told Adams. "And when I say, 'a young, talented team,' especially with a chip on its shoulder... certainly we played on that... Listen, we're gonna be a problem."

Indeed, Payton did his best to capitalize on the Broncos' relative youth and wistful exuberance this past season. The Broncos defied expectations and the oddsmakers to astounding success, winning 10 games and making the playoffs with a rookie quarterback.

Bo Nix headlined a very productive and involved rookie class. That was Year 1. The 2024 class is just scratching the surface of how it can contribute, and that's especially true for Nix.

"We felt like we had a good rookie class," Payton told Adams.

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One of the measuring sticks with which to analyze the progress Payton's Broncos are making in the AFC is how they've comported themselves vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. We know that CEO and co-owner Greg Penner feels good about the gap the Broncos have closed with the Chiefs.

"I mean, we could have very easily been 2-0 against the Chiefs this year," Penner said at his end-of-season press conference. "Our absolute goal next year is to win our division."

Before Payton arrived, the Chiefs had been on a 15-game winning streak over the Broncos. Kansas City extended that to 16 games in Payton's first matchup with Andy Reid as Broncos head coach in 2023. But when the Broncos hosted the Chiefs later in the season, Payton's squad not only defeated them but resoundingly so. The losing streak was snapped.

With Payton's second year as Broncos head coach in the books, he should honestly be 3-1 vs. the Chiefs. And he would be, if not for the "devastating" blocked field-goal attempt as time expired, which saw the Chiefs snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Arrowhead Stadium.

Payton doesn't make light of how brutal and, frankly, unacceptable that loss in Kansas City was. Heads have sinced rolled, including that of special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica, who was fired when the season ended.

The difference in that Week 10 loss to the Chiefs was how Nix played, capitalizing on the Broncos' final possession to keep Patrick Mahomes on the sideline and drive the offense down into chip-shot field-goal range. Nix put the Broncos in position for a walk-off victory and major upset, but Dave Toub's elite special teams unit identified a weakness and exploited it.

It was a loss. And while it definitely hurt Payton and the Broncos, there was something about it that felt like a win, thanks to Nix's emergence.

"We had a game this past year with a field-goal block that was devastating, but they weren't gonna have the ball last," Payton told Adams of his mindset vs. the Chiefs. "When that game ended, it was a loss. But anyone that was at that game saw how that game unfolded and saw how Nix played."

In Nix, the Broncos finally have a quarterback who can contend with the NFL's biggest bully: Mahomes. Denver demolished Kansas City's backup squad in the season finale, securing its 10th win of the season and balancing Payton's head-to-head scales vs. Reid at 2-2.

The balance of power could be shifting in the AFC West. Yes, the Chiefs are about to compete for their third straight World Championship, and Reid has confirmed that he's returning in 2025, but he knows Payton is right about the Broncos. The worm has turned.

This team is going to be a "problem" for Reid and the entire NFL. The Broncos have to make the most of this pivotal offseason, and fill some of the holes that Buffalo exposed in the playoffs.

But to whatever degree the Broncos are able to succeed in that endeavor, the X-factor remains fully in the fold, and that's Nix — who might enter 2025 with an even bigger chip on his shoulder after not only being snubbed for the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but also coming in third place in the voting behind the winner, Jayden Daniels, and tight end Brock Bowers.

That, too, was a "problem."

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