The race for Sean Payton is over, on Tuesday the Denver Broncos finalized a trade with the New Orleans Saints to secure the head coach.
For Payton, the Broncos gave up their 2023 first-round draft pick (via San Francisco) and the 2023 second-round draft pick. In return, the Saints did send their 2023 third-round draft picks to the Broncos in the trade.
Payton stepped down from the head coaching position in New Orleans in 2021. While he retired, the Saints still had Payton under contract with the Saints. There has been no report on the contract agreements that Payton signed
Breaking: Saints and Broncos are finalizing compensation in return for Super Bowl-winning HC Sean Payton, sources tell ESPN. This clears the way for Payton to sign with the Broncos to become Denver’s next head coach.
And so Payton is expected to head to Denver as its next HC. pic.twitter.com/HA4RAtE6P8
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 31, 2023
Sean Payton is The New Denver Broncos Head Coach
Payton will be tasked with reigniting a Broncos’ offense that stalled under new head coach Nathaniel Hackett in 2022.
After signing quarterback Russell Wilson, Denver was supposed to join the NFL’s elite and contend for a Super Bowl.
Instead, the opposite happened, as the Broncos’ offense failed to get anything going en route to a 5-12 season. Denver finished the regular season dead-last in the NFL in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
A former Super Bowl champion, Payton owns a 152-89-0 overall record in 15 seasons as an NFL head coach.
Payton Was the Third Option
Despite getting the job, Payton apparently wasn’t the preferred option in Denver.
According to NFL reporter Ian Rapoport, the Broncos had a few candidates lined up for the head coaching job including the newly appointed Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans.
The Broncos ultimately interviewed eight candidates, including Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw, Ejiro Evero, Raheem Morris, Dan Quinn, DeMeco Ryans, Jim Caldwell and Payton.
The top of the list of candidates included Ryans, who was responsible for leading the San Francisco 49ers defense to top-three finishes in two years. However, the Texans locked him down after the first round of interviews.
Then, the Broncos moved on to Harbaugh and flew to Ann Arbor to make a final push. However, that attempt failed and Denver began to negotiate with Payton.
After a year off from football, Payton finds himself in a familiar position, tasked to reignite a quarterback’s career and turn around a suddenly desperate franchise under the guidance of new ownership.
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