Sean Payton fires at NFL prognosticators, ‘half don’t have a clue’

Sean Payton worked in the media during his year off between the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos so his victory lap against all those talking heads who counted his team out may be a little more meaningful.

In the coach’s second season in charge of the Broncos, he nearly doubled the preseason Las Vegas win total of 5.5 for the team and led Denver to a 10-7 record. The Broncos snapped their long playoff drought behind rookie quarterback Bo Nix and a great defense, highlighted by possible Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II.

Now headed to upstate New York for the NFL’s Wildcard Weekend, Payton took some time to think about the Broncos journey.

“We all like a challenge, right? It’s not necessarily—I guess it’s like a challenge when someone says ‘X’. The first thing I think of is, ‘Who is that someone?’ When someone during the draft says, ‘Well this is…’ You guys have heard me talk about it. I think you’re looking for competitive players and competitive people in this industry,” Payton said on Monday. “I remember in the offseason talking with [Rams Head Coach Sean] McVay and the year prior for them, they were 70 million in dead cap. In other words, almost a third of your team’s budget for talent is unavailable. We had a joint practice with them, and they had a lot of young—I couldn’t tell you who the players were. Young undrafted players. It was impressive what they did that season and making it to the postseason.”

The challenge for the Broncos was getting into the playoffs while carrying $91.2 million in dead money against the cap. All the while Denver at No. 12 in the NFL Draft had to settle for the sixth quarterback off the board in Nix. And yet they arrived. Not only was Nix overlooked but so too was veteran Courtland Sutton who many pronounced washed. He finished with a 1,000-yard season and looked like a star once more. Then there’s the defense. Outside of PS2, no talking heads were giving them credit, especially with the loss of Justin Simmons and Josey Jewell. Yet, Vance Joseph’s unit led the league in sacks this year, with former second-rounder Nik Bonitto becoming one of the more feared pass rushers in the league. The group allowed the third-fewest points in the league this season.

“Sometimes those types of challenges [take] rolling up your sleeves. I think your players certainly do have a little bit of a chip when they see those initial prognostications or whatever,” Payton said. “Then eventually when you’re in this long enough, you tune that stuff out because half those people don’t have a clue [about] what they’re talking about. Yes, who’s done this before with over 80 million [in dead cap]—all those things you think about. No one’s done that before. Let’s be the first one.”

The Broncos next challenge is winning a road playoff game. This year the team only beat two playoff teams—Tampa Bay and Kansas City and those Chiefs were not trying in Sunday’s Week 18 game. All the books and much of the media are against the Broncos for their matchup with the Buffalo Bills, then again that’s how they were going into this season and look how that all worked out.