Hardcore Broncos Fans Won't Like Sean Payton's New OTA Timeline

If you're a fan of the Denver Broncos, and you live for every nugget, every post-practice presser, image, clip — you name it — you have to come to terms with how pushing deeper into the playoffs impacts Sean Payton's offseason schedule.

The deeper the Broncos go in the playoffs, the further Payton plans to kick the offseason training program down the road. In an interview with the Pat McAfee Show at the NFL Combine, Payton revealed how the Broncos' push to the AFC championship game will impact the beginning of the 2026 offseason training program, and why that is.

"You do have to recharge and start again. You push the offseason schedule back a little bit. Normally, it starts mid-April," Payton told McAfee. "Our guys won't come in 'til the first of May. And then we won't see them, we won't do a football item until June."

Last year, the Broncos' first voluntary organized team activities went from May 27-29. The team will likely still hold its rookie minicamp on time, not long after the draft in early May, but the veterans won't be doing anything football related until June.

"They'll just be lifting for a month before we ever [practice] because you don't want them to ever feel like, 'We're back here at practice again, and we were just here.' You want a gap," Payton told McAfee. "And honestly, they need that, and we need that... So we'll just do Phase 1 for a month, regardless of what the schedule says, and then we'll do OTAs and a minicamp in June."

As McAfee said, the Broncos' head coach can get away with pushing the NFL envelope because, well, he's Sean Payton.

"It's what we're doin'," Payton said with a smile.

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Method to the Madness

Jul 23, 2025; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach (97) during Denver Broncos Training Camp. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

It's going to be tough for the hardcore Broncos fans who can't wait for Phase 1 of the offseason training program, because it means something is happening at team headquarters, but there's a method to Payton's madness. At this stage, fans should trust his process, considering how the Broncos went from being the NFL's most snake-bitten teams in 2022 to the least in the matter of one year with him at the helm.

That trend has continued through all three of Payton's seasons in Denver.

"So, we had an injury issue. The first year I got there, they had finished 32nd with players missed games because of injury. 130-something (missed games), and we spent a lot of time and money with our training staff," Payton explained. "And that very first offseason after '23, we put the numbers up, and we reduced it to 36 missed games, first in the league. Two years ago, first in the league. First in the league."

Payton hired Beau Lowery as vice president of player health & performance as one of his first moves as Broncos head coach. Payton then hired Dan Dalrymple as the team's strength and conditioning coach, and the plan they put together has clearly lifted the injury curse that seemed to hang over the Broncos' head for the preceding four years.

A big part of the challenge is creating an environment that the Broncos' players want to be in. Instead of wishing they were with their private strength and conditioning coach elsewhere or at some other facility, Payton and the Broncos worked to make sure the team could offer every conceivable need to give the players the incentive to want to come to Phase 1 of OTAs.

"Part of it, like, 'Hey, I want to be here, but tell me why?' And we could show them, 'Here are the numbers. You're doing the right thing, and as a result of it, our team is healthier.'"

Building the Callus With Savvy

Jun 10, 2025; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton during minicamp at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Payton will take his time massaging the Broncos through the offseason training program. But it comes time for the cleats to really hit the grass, he's all about building that football "callus."

Payton received a B grade from the players on the NFLPA's team report card, while the Broncos' ownership, for example, received a perfect A+. Some have theorized that it's because of how tough Payton's training camp practice are.

When it's time to really dig in and practice, Payton gets every ounce of blood out of that stone, and once again, it has paid dividends for the Broncos in the standings, even if it hasn't made him as many friends in the locker room.

"I do believe you have to build a callus, though, relative to inside run, play in some preseason games," Payton said. "Now, I can say all that, but then, when you go three years in a row and point to the data... The thing I think is most important, though, is this time of the year, when they join us again, I really don't want coaches talking to them about football. If the conversation exists, I want it to be about your family, or how much you're benching, what's your weights like."

Much of Payton's philosophy is informed by the influence the great Bill Parcells had on him as a young coach. The times have changed and the NFL has evolved, along with sports medicine, but Payton still leans on what he learned from Parcells, in more ways than one, and that applies to the general offseason approach.

"You want them pulling into the parking lot not feeling like they're coming to practice," Payton said. "They're actually coming to train, and there's all the stuff they need—the supplement center, we're building a new facility—so we are selling because it's a choice and you just want to make it so good that it's way better than any other option you have."

New Facility: Coming Soon

May 10, 2025; Englewood, CO, USA; General view outside of Denver Broncos Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit building prior to rookie minicamp. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Part of the draw for the players this year will be kicking off training camp in a new facility in Dove Valley. The Broncos' new facility has been under construction for more than a year, and they're only a few months away from finally moving.

"We're three months away from moving literally right across the field to a new facility," Payton said. "And so, right after minicamp, we'll pack everything up, and when we come back for training camp, we'll be in the new [facility], and it's literally right on the other side of the practice field."

Last year, the Broncos held mandatory minicamp from June 10-12. Then they hit the six-week NFL desert that spans the end of the offseason training program and NFL training camp. If Payton is going to keep that six-week break, I'm not sure how much the Broncos can afford to push the offeason training program.

It'll be interesting to see how much Payton and the Broncos decide to cram into the month of June. But if the Broncos stick to the plan that Payton outlined in his conversation with McAfee, it's going to feel like a long, long offseason for fans.