NFL.com: Sean Payton is 'Worth Every Penny' to Broncos
Even when the Denver Broncos are not very good, the team still manages to find its way into the headlines year after year. The Broncos are a premier franchise in the NFL Landscape.
At the same time, the product on the field in the past half-decade has been exceedingly unsatisfactory for a Broncos fanbase used to long stretches of winning football. Perhaps this is the offseason that catapults the Broncos back into relevance among the best brands behind the NFL shield.
One thing that can boost your team? Trading for one of the best offensive head coaches in the NFL over the last two decades.
While it was costly both in draft capital and money to acquire Sean Payton, those around the NFL, such as NFL.com’s Adam Schein, believe nobody should be losing sleep over his hire in Denver. Quite the opposite.
"Sean Payton is worth every single penny. Forget about the draft currency relinquished: This hire is an absolute home run for the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group."
Schein points to how quickly and thoroughly Payton turned around the abysmal New Orleans Saints (or known before Payton in New Orleans, the “Aints”), leading the team to the NFC Championship game his first year and winning a Super Bowl by his fourth season as the team’s head coach.
Payton massively improved the Saints, but what should make Broncos Country most excited is how thoroughly he boosted that offense. During Payton’s 15 seasons as the Saints’ head coach, New Orleans’ offense averaged as the seventh-best in football, only finishing outside the top-10 thrice. The Saints earned a top-five offensive DVOA in seven of his 15 seasons as the head coach.
The Broncos were also in a position where the team needed to bring in a veteran offensive-minded head coach. Schein stated that following first-time coaches, Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, and Nathaniel Hackett is Payton, a “combination of Bill Parcells and Sean McVay.”
Perhaps most important for the Broncos in their acquisition of Payton is that he might be the organization’s best chance to salvage the trade and contract of veteran quarterback Russell Wilson. Following what was, by far, Wilson’s worst year in his storied career, Payton as a “59-year-old future Hall of Famer, a culture changer, and a quarterback guru” is something the Broncos and Wilson desperately need.
Can Payton fix Wilson? That remains to be seen. Payton’s offensive success in New Orleans is almost exclusively tied to Hall-of-Fame quarterback Drew Brees. The worst offensive output of the Saints in Payton’s tenure was after Brees retired, and the Saints fielded the 23rd-ranked offense, according to DVOA.
Yes, that was a Saints team that trotted out Taysom Hill, Jameis Winston, Trevor Siemien, and Ian Book all at quarterback at some point that season, but still an interesting data point.
There are no guarantees in the NFL, so it will be a wait-and-see approach on if Payton can resurrect Wilson’s play to that of his best season’s in Seattle, but undoubtedly Payton will put the QB in a position to succeed. With his matchup-oriented offense with West Coast roots, Payton has done an incredible job in his coaching career, molding offenses to emphasize his quarterback.
With the changes under Brees from a more under-center/play-action/dropback quarterback early in his career to evolving to more shotgun/quick-pass looks as he aged. Also, the stark contrast in the offensive styles with Winston, Hill, and Teddy Bridgewater all spending time as the Saints’ quarterback, Payton should put Wilson in an offense that helps him succeed. It’s still up to the players to execute, but that’s all anyone can ask for from a coaching staff perspective.
As Schein stated: “If anyone can get Russ back on the rails, it’s Payton. What a coup for the Broncos and their amazing fans.”
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