Payton speaks on how he’ll use Wilson’s strengths, brings up a karaoke bar

The Denver Broncos introduced Sean Payton as the 20th head coach in team history on Monday.

Payton spoke for nearly an hour, so there are a lot of different angles to dissect. But perhaps the biggest is how will Payton work with QB Russell Wilson and bring him back to the player he was in Seattle? The Broncos gave up a haul for Wilson, and need him to be much better in 2023 than he was in 2022 to have any hope of competing.

Payton made it pretty clear: Denver needs to use Wilson to the best of his abilities.

“The No. 1 job for us as coaches in evaluating players is what are the things they do really well and let’s try to put them in those positions. At least that’s a starting point and I think that’s important to highlight their strengths and maybe minimize any weaknesses,” Payton said.

Part of the problem with former head coach Nathaniel Hackett and Wilson was that they tried to mesh their two systems. That didn’t work at all, and the results produced one of the worst offenses in NFL history. Payton said that won’t be happening, and also complimented Wilson’s work ethic.

“Here’s what I know. I know he’s an extremely hard worker, that’s important. I think you take that, you understand the skill set. He’s won a lot of games in Seattle. We played them quite a bit, just because we were both playoff teams in the NFC at that time. Although it’s a much more visible position, I think it’s the same case and same goal for us with every player on this roster. What do they well? It’s easy to point out what they don’t do well, and there’s certain coaches that tend to look at it that way. I was kind of taught early on, what is it they do well? And let’s have them do those things,” Payton said.

He then brought up a great analogy about a karaoke bar. To compare it to football, Hackett was perhaps making Wilson run plays he didn’t want to or wasn’t prepared for.

“I don’t like singing, period, but none of us want to be at a karaoke bar with a song we don’t know the words to,” Payton said. “So, how do we get them comfortable and highlight their strengths? That’s the process that’s going to begin right now as I’m learning about every one of these players, not just Russell.”

And finally, it sounds like Wilson’s personal staff won’t be around headquarters this season. After his press conference Payton was asked about that, and said it’s not going to be allowed.

Sean Payton will be making a big change when it comes to Russell Wilson. Asked about Wilson having his own quarterbacks coach and staff in the building, Payton said that is “foreign” to him and that it won’t be happening.

— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) February 6, 2023

That’s an important change. Wilson needs to just be one of the guys, and having his own coaches and everyone else around the building didn’t help that perception.

There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Sean Payton. He’s armed with a plan to fix Russell Wilson, and all of Broncos Country is hoping it works.

***