The Denver Broncos came into the 2022 season with a great defense, one of the NFL’s best running backs in Javonte Williams, a talented group of receivers, and a new quarterback in Russell Wilson who was supposed to put them over the top.
Needless to say, that didn’t happen. The Broncos, who fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett on December 26, are playing out the string with a 4-12 record. They would, if the 2023 NFL draft happened today, have the third overall pick, but they traded that pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Wilson’s services. And Wilson, who has had an absolutely disastrous season, ranks 30th in DYAR and 28th in DVOA among qualifying NFL starting quarterbacks. He had never ranked lower than 15th in either metric before this season.
Now, it appears that the Broncos are swinging for the fences in trying to turn things around with the possibility of Sean Payton as their next head coach. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter:
The Denver Broncos requested and received permission from the New Orleans Saints to interview Sean Payton for their head coach job, league sources tell ESPN.
The NFL ruled that any in-person interview with Payton cannot be conducted until at least January 17, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2023
Payton retired before the 2022 season after putting up a 152-89 regular-season record and a 9-8 postseason mark (including a win in Super Bowl XLIV at the end of the 2009 season. Payton is rightly regarded as one of the most brilliant offensive minds of the modern era, and the idea here is to align Payton with Wilson to try and get the most out of their high-priced quarterback.
The complication is that Payton is still under contract with the Saints, so compensation will be an issue. The Broncos did slip back into the first round by trading edge-rusher Bradley Chubb to the Miami Dolphins, and it may take that to pry Payton loose. For the Broncos, it might be worth the price.