Broncos' Sean Payton Cracks PFT's Top-10 NFL Head Coaches of 2023
Denver, CO – In approximately one week, fans will get their first opportunity to lay their eyes on the 2023 Denver Broncos, led by new head coach Sean Payton. Many folks in Broncos County have been left to speculate and wonder what their team will look like this season after Payton implemented a strict bare-minimum media policy for players and personnel.
The 59-year-old veteran arrived in Denver after GM George Paton executed a blockbuster trade last January that sent a 2023 first-round pick and 2024 second-round pick to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for Payton and a 2024 third-round pick.
Simply put, the man was chosen by the Broncos to do two things in the Mile High City: win football games and lead Russell Wilson’s career resurgence.
This week, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio continued his NFL-wide head coach rankings and selected Payton among his top 10 at No. 6.
“Sean Payton — offensive expert, Bill Parcells disciple, quarterback whisperer, and Super Bowl XLIV champion — will try to add another label to his football story: Russell Wilson fixer,” Florio explained. “Can Payton salvage Wilson? The coach’s history suggests that he can. That he’ll figure out how to play to Wilson’s strengths, how to do the things Wilson does well. How to avoid asking Wilson to do the things he doesn’t do well. How to put quality help around him, including an improved offensive line.”
While designating Payton as a top 10 coach in the NFL is enough to make any Broncos fan gush with excitement, it’s also met with some criticism by people who have pointed out that he hasn’t coached football since 2021 — his last season with the Saints in which they finished 9-8 and were second in the NFC South.
In January 2022, Payton announced that he’d be joining FOX Sports as an analyst, where he worked for the entirety of the year before NFL teams like Broncos, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Houston Texans began vying for his services in January.
Payton left New Orleans with a 152-89 regular season record (.631 winning percentage) and amassed seven NFC South titles. He was named 2006 AP Coach of the Year and won a Super Bowl (XLIV) championship.
Payton also holds a 9-8 postseason record and brings over 26 years of coaching experience to the beleaguered Broncos, who have all but lost their way for the better part of a decade.
After Nathaniel Hackett's dismissal due to the hot dumpster fire that was the 2022 Broncos season, Payton was always my top candidate to land in Denver, and not because he was the biggest name or because he’s old school and entertaining.
To me, Payton’s football philosophies, which include discipline, competition, cutting-edge learning, and accountability, feel eerily similar to that of former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowls in Denver. While I wasn’t around to cover ‘Shanny’s’ Hall-of-Fame teams in the late 1990s, I can’t help but feel a distinguished leader is finally back in charge at Centura Health Training Center.
Say what you want about Payton, but he’ll undoubtedly do things his way in Denver in 2023.
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