Broncos making good on Payton’s “anonymous donors” plan

Sean Payton said it would be this way.

Now, if you watch Cecil Lammey and yours truly on Orange and Blue Today, you’ve probably heard us caution that the focus should be on what a team DOES, not what it SAYS. So, if a team tells you it likes its incumbent complement at a position, but then spends an outsized fraction of its in-person visits focusing on players at that position, what matters more? It’s the visits, not the words.

But eventually, those words can reveal plans.

And when Payton addressed media for the first time as Broncos head coach, he made it clear that he wanted his club to operate in the shadows.

“I kind of use this term, ‘A little bit more anonymous donors this season,'” Payton said in February. “Just know that we’re working, but with a little bit less visibility on social media and all those other things.”

That’s been clear in everything they’ve done in recent weeks. Past years saw the team’s public-relations department ensure that every new player of consequence met with local media — whether in person or via a teleconference.

This Broncos offseason saw the team spend more money than anyone else in free agency.

Total spending: $235.1 million

Total press conferences by new Broncos: Zero.

So, it would come as no surprise that the Broncos opened their offseason in silence.

In past years, hype flowed from UCHealth Training Center like water down the Arkansas River during the spring runoff.

Look no further than Twitter:

Day 1, 2022:

The COVID-19 pandemic changed things for the 2020 and 2021 offseasons.

But on Day 1 of 2019 …

Day 1, 2018:

Day 1, 2017:

You get the idea. It became a tradition. And it’s standard operating procedure around much of the NFL. An inside look to tempt and tantalize fans about what could be to come.

And Payton ended that.

Nothing on social media. No offseason-opening press conferences. And no such question-and-answer sessions on the horizon.

By 5:40 p.m. MDT on Tuesday, there was a link to a photo gallery … of the scoreboard construction and stadium renovation at Empower Field at Mile High.

A new & improved videoboard at @EmpowerField coming soon!

Behind-the-scenes construction 📸's of our record $100M in renovations » https://t.co/nf6vOgl22d pic.twitter.com/HZClMpYDXN

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) April 11, 2023

Past years were about sound and fury. Slow-motion walk-ups from the cars to the grocery-store-style automatic door in the northwest corner of the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Broncos Centre. A peek behind the curtain.

Payton closed that curtain.

And perhaps most important was this: Payton’s players followed his lead on Day 1.

A quick perusal of the Instagram and Twitter accounts of key Broncos players revealed … bupkis. You wouldn’t know that Tuesday was anything beyond just another offseason day.

Contrast that with another team featuring a new coach, the Indianapolis Colts. They shared part of Shane Steichen’s first address to his team. They also tweeted photos and a hype video. Sure, it’s all boilerplate stuff. There’s nothing new — except the Colts’ first-time head coach.

Coach Steichen meets the team. pic.twitter.com/ANrlnsebSL

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) April 11, 2023

Meanwhile, the Broncos quietly went about their work. Which is exactly what Payton said they would do.

“We’re going to get to work, and ultimately, it’s how we do in the fall,” he said two months ago. “We kind of go from there. We have to earn it with our fans. We’ve got fantastic fans that will appreciate that.”

Tuesday, those fans in Broncos Country learned that Payton’s words aren’t just utterances — they’re statements of action to come.

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