Getty Former New Orleans Saints HC holding up the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLIV.
The long wait is finally over for the Denver Broncos as they are trading for former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter
Schefter is reporting that the Broncos will send their 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick to the Saints in exchange for the Super Bowl winning head coach and the Saints’ 2024 third-round pick.
Payton will be the 20th head coach in Denver’s franchise history and will try to join Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak as the only head coaches in Broncos history to raise a Lombardi Trophy over their head.
Sean Payton Knows How to Fix Wilson
After the Broncos started the season off with a 2-2 overall record, former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton jumped on “The Herd With Colin Cowherd” in October and explained that Wilson can be fixed.
“You correct flaws immediately, and then we don’t worry about how long the process is going to take,” Payton said. “In other words, I’d want a cut-up today of all of Russell’s pass plays of 30 or more yards from the field and I’d want to see, ‘Are there some schemes that he felt very comfortable with?’”
Payton also mentioned that he would like to see what Wilson did successful in Seattle.
“I know that they did a great job in Seattle of bringing him off of a naked-boot and then pulling up,” Payton said. “And then we all saw that throwback to [Tyler] Lockett across the field where the ball traveled 60 yards in the air.”
Payton would also want to see the touchdowns that Wilson has thrown in the red zone.
“I’d want to look at another film of his red zone touchdown passes inside the 20,” Payton said. “What I’m asking for from assistants is, I’m asking for some of his greatest hits, and to make sure that we have those song lyrics available, and if not, let’s put them in.”
As the season ended with Wilson playing well, there was proof that after all the injuries, getting to a more creative play caller, and an improved offensive line, there is hope that Wilson can play like he did in Seattle.
Payton’s History in the NFL
After playing quarterback at Eastern Illinois, Payton went undrafted in 1987 and tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs, but didn’t make the team. Later on that year, Payton was picked up by the Chicago Bears where he played in three games because of the strike among NFL players.
After his stint with the Bears, Payton played overseas for the Leicester Panthers in London.
In 1988, Payton decided to turn his focus into coaching.
After spending nearly a decade in the college game, bouncing school to school as an offensive assistant coach in different roles, Payton finally made the jump to the NFL in 1997 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
After being the quarterbacks coach for two years in Philadelphia, Payton joined the New York Giants in the same role for one season before becoming the offensive coordinator in 2000.
During that 2000 season, Payton had his offense ranked as the 15th best scoring offense in the NFL as the Giants made it to the Super Bowl before falling to the Baltimore Ravens.
After three years of running the offense in New York, Payton was hired by the Dallas Cowboys to be the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach under head coach Bill Parcells for three seasons.
In 2006, Payton was hired as the head coach of the Saints. During that time span, Payton was able to raise the level of play for future hall of fame quarterback Drew Brees.
Of the 15 years calling plays for the Saints, Payton’s offenses ranked in the top-ten of scoring 12 times.
In 2009, Payton orchestrated the league’s top scoring offense which led to beating Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in the 2010 Super Bowl.
While leading the Saints, Payton has coached his team to the playoffs nine times owning a playoff record of 9-8 and has made it past the first-round seven of the nine times.
With this hire, it gives Broncos Country something to cheer about and some hope that Payton can get the Broncos back into the playoffs and back to a Super Bowl for the first time since the 2015 season.