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Things are different in Broncos Country these days.
Last year, following the arrival of enthusiastic head coach Nathaniel Hackett and always-motivational quarterback Russell Wilson, the Denver Broncos fueled the flames of hype leading up the 2022 season.
Denver then failed to live up to the offseason hype with a dismal 5-12 record last fall. When new coach Sean Payton arrived this offseason, he vowed that things would be different in 2023.
“[We’ll be] a little bit more anonymous donors this season,” Payton said in February. “Just know that we’re working, but with a little bit less visibility on social media and all those other things. We’re going to get to work, and ultimately, it’s how we do in the fall [that matters].”
Payton was serious.
The coach did not make any players available to the media during the initial stages of the offseason program. No press conferences for the free agent signings or new coaches. No pressers for the draft class.
The NFL will require players to be made available when organized team activities begin later this month, but Payton hasn’t made any players or coaches available for non-mandatory press conferences so far.
Payton did allow media access to an open locker room during rookie minicamp to prepare players for that kind of setting during the season.
“Part of orientation is prepping them,” Payton said of the team’s rookies on May 13. “For a lot of them, they aren’t used to an open locker room. I like all you guys, but I was not trying to throw anyone a bone [with media access].
“This is to get them prepared for the media coming into the locker room. It’s all of it — getting them prepared and also understanding that they are currently behind the group that has been here.”
Payton also said (jokingly?) that he would give a $50 gift card to the rookie who gave the most “bland, cliched, on-brand answers” during the open locker room session. Clearly, the coach doesn’t want the team’s young players feeding into the hype or causing any kind of controversies in the media.
It makes for a more boring offseason, but it’s a smart decision.
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