Tag: Sean Payton

Broncos have made progress, but Sean Payton still isn’t satisfied

The Broncos are one win away from their first winning season since 2016, but coach Sean Payton isn’t celebrating just yet.

After going 8-9 in Sean Payton’s first season last fall, the Denver Broncos are now just one win away from improving on their 2023 record. With a win against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, the Broncos would improve to 9-5, clinching their first winning season since 2016 under Gary Kubiak.

So, how does it feel to be one game away from a winning season?

“I don’t know that one person downstairs — myself included — has thought about right now this team just having a winning season,” Payton said Monday. “I understand the question and I appreciate it, but I think our aspirations are a little higher.”

Payton has bigger expectations than just finishing above .500, and that’s exactly why the team’s ownership group acquired him in 2023. Payton is a demanding coach and while the club had made progress under over the last two years, he’s still not satisfied.

“You do want to be, [No. 1], playing for something and playing with confidence, but then also hopefully you’re eliminating some of the mistakes,” Payton said of late-season football. “Our penalty numbers are still problematic.

“I don’t like our penalties relative to the offensive line. We’re near the bottom of the league in that category. We’re in the bottom of the league relative to the secondary. Those have to get cleaned up, or they’ll end up costing you.”

Overall, Denver has been penalized 83 times this season, 13th-most in the NFL. In the secondary, the Broncos have 12 pass interference penalties, tied for fourth-most in the league. Both sides of the ball have shown great progress from a year ago, but there’s still work to be done.

Coming out of their bye week, Denver will look to finish strong and clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2015. The first task on deck is beating the Colts at home in Week 15.

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This isn’t the first time the Saints have tried to sign Ben DiNucci

This isn’t the first time the Saints have tried to sign Ben DiNucci. Last year he passed on the chance to join them after Derek Carr was injured:

Someone in the New Orleans Saints pro personnel department is  big fan of Ben DiNucci. The Saints signed the veteran backup quarterback on Tuesday after a hand injury put Derek Carr’s status in doubt, reinforcing the depth chart behind Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler. It’s been a long time coming.

The Saints tried to sign DiNucci last year when Carr suffered a shoulder injury, but it was reported that he wasn’t open to leaving the Denver Broncos practice squad just to sit on the bench somewhere else. Here’s what we wrote at the time:

But DiNucci didn’t see a better situation on the Saints’ 53-man roster than he already had in Denver. The Saints signed Jake Luton from the Carolina Panthers practice squad and rostered him for three weeks while Carr played through his injured throwing shoulder; when rookie quarterback Jake Haener returned from a six-week suspension to start the season, Luton was waived.

That wasn’t the case this time. DiNucci hadn’t been on an NFL roster since August, when he spent a few weeks with the Buffalo Bills. Without a viable alternative, he was obviously more willing to go be a backup on another team. Hopefully he can help the team get through this rough patch while Carr is on the mend.

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Do the Broncos have any future head coaches on Sean Payton’s staff?

Vance Joseph is the most likely candidate among Broncos coaches to draw head coach interest this offseason.

The best NFL teams often lose members of their coaching staff during the offseason. It’s a good problem to have.

For the Denver Broncos, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is the most obvious and most likely candidate to draw head coach interest this offseason. Someday in the future, quarterbacks coach Davis Webb might also get looks as a potential head coach candidate.

Sean Payton’s coaching tree includes Dan Campbell, Doug Marrone and Dennis Allen. Are there any coaches on his current staff who could become head coaches in the future?

“It’s an interesting league,” Payton said in June. “We went through — you hear the term that it is a copycat league. There is success with let’s say a young Sean McVay, then there is a couple of years where I am getting calls from GMs asking about not only candidates on my staff, but other candidates. It was always, ‘We are interested in an offensive play-caller.’ So I would say, ‘So you are not interested in the next Bill Belichick?’ I think this past year, we saw a number of defensive coaches. We’ve seen special teams coaches with John Harbaugh, who I worked with in Philly. We’ve seen offensive line coaches. There is a little cycle to that.

“Ultimately, you are looking for and projecting who can lead. Sometimes, I think it is a little like the quarterback position. You may have a talented prospect that maybe ends up in the wrong place. In three years, he is back in the coordinator’s role and who knows if he ended up in another place. I’ve shared that story with you and the late [former Saints owner] Mr. [Tom] Benson coming to me those early years and saying, ‘Hey, we have all of these coaches getting interviews for head jobs. I said, ‘Mr. B, we need to worry if no one is interviewing them.’ I love seeing what Dan Campbell is doing, I love seeing Dennis Allen now, Doug Marrone and a number of these guys that I have worked with. I want that for them. It’s hard to predict though.” 

Payton wasn’t willing to give any predictions earlier this year, but Joseph seems likely to get interviews this offseason. Joseph, of course, previously served as Denver’s head coach from 2017-2018. We’ll see if other teams come calling in the offseason.

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Peter Schrager reacts to Sean Payton’s trust in rookie QB Bo Nix

“The confidence and the trust that Sean Payton has in his rookie quarterback Bo Nix is evident,” Peter Schrager said on NFL Network.

Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix threw a 93-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marvin Mims on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns last week.

On an episode of Good Morning Football following the game, NFL Network’s Peter Schrager broke down how that play exemplified the confidence that coach Sean Payton has in Nix.

“Here’s Sean Payton, back against his own end zone here on third and long. And a lot of teams would say, ‘Young quarterback, just hand the ball off.’ Third and 11, he’s like, ‘Let it rip over the middle!’ This is the development and the maturation of a rookie quarterback who has a lot more on his plate than he did in the first half of the season. … The confidence and the trust that Sean Payton has in his rookie quarterback Bo Nix is evident.”

Nix and Co. are now on a bye. They will return to action when the Broncos host the Indianapolis Colts at Empower Field at Mile High in Week 15.

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Broncos have a promising up-and-coming coach in Davis Webb

Broncos coaches have been full of praise for young quarterbacks coach Davis Webb.

The Denver Broncos seem to have a gem in Davis Webb.

The 29-year-old coach was a backup quarterback in the NFL from 2017-2022 before jumping straight into coaching with the Broncos in 2023. Sean Payton hired Webb as the team’s quarterbacks coach last fall and the young coach quickly drew praise from his new boss.

“He’s been a great asset,” Payton said in 2023. Added offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi: “I certainly see a bright future for him in the coaching profession.”

After hiring Payton and Webb, Denver saw quarterback Russell Wilson improve his completion, touchdown and interception totals from 2022-2023. The Broncos moved on from Wilson this spring and Webb is now helping mentor the team’s rookie quarterback, Bo Nix.

“He has a lot of experience obviously playing the position, and that’s always helpful,” Lombardi said in June earlier this year. “A lot of energy, smart, works really hard. His meetings are always prepared. He gives them a lot of good information but makes them entertaining. He’s just really good with the technology and using the audio-visual to maximize the learning experience. [He’s] just real sharp and a hard worker, and that’s what you want from coaches. [He’s] easy to get along with.”

Payton has also praised Webb for those traits, and Nix is putting together a case to win Offensive Rookie of the Year this fall. Payton is the mastermind, of course, but a great head coach is aided by a great staff, and Webb’s experience at quarterback has been huge for Denver.

“I obviously went through it, and I had Eli Manning in the room, which was pretty great,” Webb said in June when asked about his experience playing QB in the NFL. “[Nix] has a different experience with ‘Stiddy’ (Jarrett Stidham) being his second year in the offense, Zach [Wilson] being in multiple systems throughout his career. So it’s a good room to have that for a young guy.

“Over the offseason, I called plenty of coaches, plenty of former teammates just kind of talking, ‘Hey, back then this is what we did. What would you change? What would you like now? What was really important? What wasn’t?’ So that’s been a process honestly since February in regards to just gathering information and kind of getting everybody ready.”

If Webb is going to move up the coaching ranks as some in Denver believe he will, the next logical progression would be an eventual promotion to offensive coordinator — either with the Broncos or elsewhere. After that, Davis could perhaps one day become a head coach candidate. That’s a conversation for down the road. For now, Denver’s happy to have Webb coaching up the team’s QBs.

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Tyler Warren would be a dream pick for Broncos in 2025 NFL draft

We’re dreaming about the 2025 NFL draft during the Broncos’ bye week and tight end Tyler Warren would be a perfect pick.

It’s never too early to look ahead to the NFL draft, right?

The Denver Broncos still have four games remaining this season, but the 2025 offseason is now just a few months away. Next spring, tight end will be one of Denver’s biggest positions of need.

Through 13 games this fall, Lucas Krull is the team’s leading tight end in receptions with a whopping 13 catches for 120 yards and no touchdowns. Up next is Adam Trautman (nine catches for 158 yards and one score) and Nate Adkins (seven catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns).

If you combine all three, that’s 29 catches for 328 yards. That’s terrible production from the tight end room.

Tyler Warren could be the solution in 2025.

The Penn State tight end is a former quarterback who now serves as a do-everything player for the Nittany Lions. Sound familiar? Warren could be much more than a Taysom Hill in Sean Payton’s offense, though.

Warren (6-6, 260 pounds) is a better blocker than Hill, a more dynamic receiver and just as productive as a runner. Through 12 games at PSU this fall, Warren has hauled in 81 receptions for 978 yards and six scores.

Warren has also rushed 21 times for 189 yards — averaging 9.0 yards per carry — and he’s completed three of five passes for 35 yards and a score.

Right now, the tight end is projected to be picked late in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft. With the Broncos on pace to make the NFL playoffs, they could go on the clock right around the time Warren is projected to go off the board. If he’s available, Warren would be a dream pick for Denver in 2025.

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Opinion: Mickey Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006, and he’s ridden that win for too long. He can’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after Dennis Allen went bust:

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006 when the Green Bay Packers didn’t hire Sean Payton as their head coach, and he’s ridden that win for too long.  Really, he got lucky twice — that same offseason the Miami Dolphins failed a physical for Drew Brees, who signed with the New Orleans Saints instead. That combination established the greatest era in franchise history, winning a Super Bowl together and changing the perception of pro football in New Orleans for a generation.

And Loomis has gotten too much credit for it. When Payton agreed to take the job as his second choice, Loomis was coming off a terrible decision to trade up for Johnathan Sullivan in the 2003 NFL draft, a historic bust at defensive tackle who was off the team and then out of the league in just three years. It’s a mistake he didn’t learn from and repeated with later draft-day gambles on Sedrick Ellis (2008) and Marcus Davenport (2018), among others. It isn’t exaggeration to say Payton and Brees saved his job.

Just look at his record. The Saints have gone 48-61 during his tenure as general manager when Payton wasn’t coaching them (not counting the 2012 season when Loomis and Payton were both suspended). Now look at his peers. The next three longest-tenured GM’s have all seen their teams advance to multiple Super Bowls — Les Snead (107-99-1), Howie Roseman (135-103-1), and John Schneider (144-94-1). Just because Loomis has held his post a long time doesn’t mean he’s the best at his job. His official record is 207-160, including the 2012 season, but as we said many of those wins can be attributed to Payton.

And Payton was one of two head coaches Loomis has hired. The other was Dennis Allen, who failed to sustain the success Payton found and turned into a dead end. That decision wasted everyone’s time during the 2022, 2023, and very likely 2024 seasons, too. Despite his protests that injuries were to blame, team owner Gayle Benson overruled Loomis and finally fired Allen after his 24-46 career record fell to 26-53 this year.

All of this was said to say that Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after this season. If Darren Rizzi earns the job by winning out and getting to the playoffs, awesome — that would be remarkable. If a candidate familiar with the organization like Aaron Glenn or Joe Brady ends up being the best fit, great. But that shouldn’t be a call Loomis should make. He’s shown before that he’ll take the easy way out and hire someone he knows, like Allen, rather than seriously consider an outside candidate.

Loomis got lucky once and it bought him a lifetime of job security. The last time he was given free reign to hire a coach he set the franchise back for years. Now, with the hope of a clean salary cap ledger on the horizon and the possibility of a reset coming with it, the Saints can’t trust that Loomis will learn from his mistakes and make the right decision. If firing him isn’t an option, and there’s nothing to suggest it is, promote him to a hands-off role in senior leadership and let someone with a fresh perspective (like assistant general manager Khai Harley) take the reins. We’ll just have to wait and see if Gayle Benson agrees.

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All 32 NFL head coaches, ranked oldest to youngest

Sean Payton (60) is the sixth-oldest head coach in the NFL. View the ages for all 32 NFL coaches going into the Broncos’ bye week.

At 60 years old, Denver Broncos skipper Sean Payton is the sixth-oldest head coach in the NFL going into his team’s bye this week.

Payton became a head coach at age 42 and he won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints at 46 years old. Gary Kubiak was 54 when he won a title with the Broncos and Mike Shanahan was 45 and 46 when Denver won back-to-back titles in the late 1990s.

Mike Tomlin (36 at the time) held the record as the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl until Sean McVay (20 days younger) later claimed that crown. McVay, now 38, is still the fourth-youngest coach in the league despite having seven years of experience on his resume.

Bruce Arians was the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl (68), but George Halas (204 days older) was the oldest coach to ever win an NFL title (Halas coached in the pre-Super Bowl era).

The most recent Super Bowl champion is Andy Reid (66), who also happens to be the oldest coach in the league. Reid would need to coach at least three more seasons to have a chance of becoming the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl.

View the full list of all 32 NFL head coaches below, ranked by age.

  1. Andy Reid (66) Chiefs
  2. John Harbaugh (62) Ravens
  3. Mike McCarthy (61) Cowboys
  4. Todd Bowles (61) Buccaneers
  5. Jim Harbaugh (60) Chargers
  6. Sean Payton (60) Broncos
  7. Doug Pederson (56) Jaguars
  8. Darren Rizzi (54) Saints [interim]
  9. Dan Quinn (54) Commanders
  10. Mike Tomlin (52) Steelers
  11. Sean McDermott (50) Bills
  12. Brian Daboll (49) Giants
  13. Dan Campbell (48) Lions
  14. Raheem Morris (48) Falcons
  15. Jeff Ulbrich (47) Jets [interim]
  16. Antonio Pierce (46) Raiders
  17. Matt LaFleur (45) Packers
  18. Kyle Shanahan (44) 49ers
  19. Dave Canales (43) Panthers
  20. Nick Sirianni (43) Eagles
  21. Kevin Stefanski (42) Browns
  22. Jonathan Gannon (41) Cardinals
  23. Mike McDaniel (41) Dolphins
  24. Zac Taylor (41) Bengals
  25. Brian Callahan (40) Titans
  26. DeMeco Ryans (40) Texans
  27. Shane Steichen (39) Colts
  28. Kevin O’Connell (39) Vikings
  29. Sean McVay (38) Rams
  30. Jerod Mayo (38) Patriots
  31. Thomas Brown (38) Bears [interim]
  32. Mike Macdonald (37) Seahawks

Payton (.615) has the ninth-best career winning percentage among active coaches.

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Karl Mecklenburg: Sean Payton’s experience paid off on ‘MNF’

Karl Mecklenburg’s advice to Broncos players during the bye: “Lay on a beach somewhere and stay out of trouble.”

The Cleveland Browns gave the Broncos a scare on Monday night. The Broncos defense was sorely missing their starting cornerback Riley Moss. Cleveland targeted his replacement repeatedly with success. Cleveland put up over 500 yards of offense, but Browns quarterback Jameis Winston threw three interceptions, two of which the Broncos returned for touchdowns. The Broncos secondary seemed confused at times, missed tackles became an issue, and former Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy had a huge game for the Browns. Despite the blown coverages, Broncos players came up big with pressure on the quarterback, and interceptions at key times, keeping the Broncos in the game.

Denver’s offense was able to keep up and win the shoot-out that the game turned into. This isn’t how the Broncos have won games this year. I’m sure Denver’s coaching staff was expecting our defense to hold down the Browns the way they have with most opponents. It was rewarding to watch the Broncos offense rise to the occasion and make big plays to match the Browns big plays. The game plan had to change quickly, and Denver’s offense handled the situation well.

Have you gone into a business situation or family situation and been surprised? How did you react? Were you able to switch gears and get right back in the game? Coach Payton’s experience paid off this week. The Broncos coaching staff made changes before the game got out of hand. The Broncos have their bye this week and players will be able to rest and heal. After training camp and 13 games with no off time, every player has various levels of injury. Instead of just jumping into preparation for the next game, the coaching staff will be able to do some self-scouting to make sure they aren’t becoming too predictable. Go Broncos! Lay on a beach somewhere and stay out of trouble.

Karl Mecklenburg originally shared this post on his social media pages and it was re-shared here with permission. Mecklenburg played for the Denver Broncos from 1983-1994, earning six Pro Bowl nods and five All-Pro selections during his decorated career in the NFL. Mecklenburg is now a motivational keynote speaker. You can book Mecklenburg on his website. 

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Jaleel McLaughlin heating up in Broncos’ backfield

Jaleel McLaughlin led the Broncos’ backfield in carries and rushing yards in the two games leading up to the team’s bye week.

It’s been the Jaleel McLaughlin show in the Denver Broncos‘ backfield over the last two weeks as the second-year back has led the team with 21 carries for 128 yards.

During that same period, Javonte Williams had 12 carries for negative one yard (that’s not a typo) and Audric Estime had six carries for 27 yards. Williams remains a key blocker and a capable receiver on third downs, but McLaughlin has been the team’s top runner over the last two games.

“He played well,” coach Sean Payton said after a 41-32 win over the Cleveland Browns. “We felt like some of the wide zone stuff and tosses were going to be good. He had a lot of good runs. Part of it was the scheme that was successful, or a couple of schemes we have seen other teams have success with that we had success with as well. All in all, it was good.”

McLaughlin has 97 touches for 414 yards and three touchdowns this season. He’s still trailing Williams on the year (162 touches for 705 yards and four scores), but McLaughlin has been trending up in recent weeks.

Fantasy football managers will see how the backfield rotation shakes out after the bye when the Broncos host the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15.

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