NFL
By Keith Richards
The Denver Broncos have their man! In a trade with the New Orleans Saints, Denver believes Sean Payton will be the coach to get this team moving forward in the right direction in 2023. After an extensive four-week coaching search, it was Coach Payton who won out in the end. What makes Sean Payton so special? Is he better than the other candidates interviewed? Let’s take a look back at his career to see why the Broncos place their faith in him.
As I said above, the coaching search was extensive. Even though the Broncos were one of the first teams to fire their coach, many felt they would be the last time to hire one. Not many searches for a head coach last for four weeks, but Denver was thorough. After the last hire they made, can you blame them? Their search included:
Jim Harbaugh (stayed with the Wolverines)
Sean Payton (obviously)
Ejiro Evero
DeMeco Ryans (hired by the Texans)
Dan Quinn (stayed with the Cowboys)
In the end, the Broncos just couldn’t see past Sean Payton. It’s not hard to see why. As with many coaches, Payton has had both success and failure during his coaching career. Much of that has been a success. Let’s look back at some of Sean Payton’s greatest hits.
Sean Payton began his coaching career at 25 as an offensive assistant at San Diego. He would go on to two other schools before he broke into the NFL at age 34 with the Philadelphia Eagles as Quarterback Coach. From there, Sean Payton served as the Offensive Coordinator for three seasons (after one season as the Quarterbacks Coach).
In 2003, Payton became the Assistant Head Coach and Quarterbacks Coach for the Dallas Cowboys, which is where he started to truly make a name for himself. Like his previous jobs, Sean’s stay with the Cowboys was short. The New Orleans Saints hired Sean Payton as their head in 2006, which is where he spent his full head coaching career.
In his 15 years as head coach of the Saints, Sean Payton finished with a record of 152-89. After a few mediocre first seasons, New Orleans would break through in 2009. That season, they went 13-3 and went on to beat the Peyton Manning lead Colts in Super Bowl 43. From there, the Saints went on a stretch of three more seasons of at least 11 wins.
Those seasons would follow three straight mediocre seasons. To be exact, New Orleans had three straight seasons of 7-9. After, though, Sean Payton would lead the Saints to four straight seasons of at least 11 wins, which included a trip to the NFC Championship in 2018. Still, does this equal success with Sean Payton and the Broncos? Not necessarily, but that’s where Drew Brees comes into play.
Drew Bress was the quarterback for Payton and New Orleans for 15 of the 16 seasons. As the main player caller for the Saints, a lot of the success of Brees has to be attributed to Sean Payton. Let’s look at some of Drew’s career highlights:
Two-time Offensive Player of the Year
13-time Pro Bowler
Seven-time passing yards leader
Four-time passing touchdowns leader
Six-time completion percentage leader
80,358 career passing yards
571 career passing touchdowns
98.7 career passer rating
Again, Sean Payton can’t take sole responsibility for the success Drew Brees had in his career, but he deserves a lot of it. Though the skillsets of Brees and Wilson are not exactly the same, they’re very similar. Furthermore, their builds are very similar. Payton will not be able to run the same system he did for Brees with Wilson, but I’m confident he will find something to “fix” Russell.
The Denver Broncos will be a better team under Sean Payton. How good will they be? That’s not a question that can be answered yet. Though Payton is a big piece of the puzzle, he’s still just a piece. The offensive line still needs to be fixed. The receiver room needs to be finalized. Some disciplinary things on the defense need to be straightened out. If the Broncos continue on this path, though, they could be who we thought they were.
Team NBS will be here continuing to follow the Broncos and Sean Payton’s progress. Don’t forget to get your gear either!
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