Sean Payton says Broncos aren’t looking to ‘send a message’ with potential trade

Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos are 7-2 and on a roll after winning six straight games. The defense has been phenomenal for the orange and blue this season and while the offense and special teams have had inconsistent moments, the orange and blue are still sitting pretty atop the AFC West midway through the season.

With the trade deadline looming on Tuesday afternoon, there’s been some buzz that the Broncos could potentially go out and make a big move to improve the roster even more. The wide receiver and tight end positions have been mentioned, but with just over 24 hours until the deadline, it’s not out of the question that the Broncos roster could look a bit different for Thursday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Payton was asked about the impending deadline in the Monday morning conference call with Denver-area media, but didn’t shed much light onto how active the Broncos are planning to be.

“We’ll see,” he said.

If Payton and the rest of the Broncos’s brass were to make a move by Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. MT, would that send a message to the players that this organization is all-in on winning a Super Bowl this season?

“We would never make a trade to send a message to the team,” Payton said. “Everyone in the locker room, our players, coaches, management, front office knows that we’re all in to win. The trade would take place—this supposed trade—if we found value in something that could help us. Period. That’s it. We’re not looking to send a message.”

The Broncos haven’t been very active at the trade deadline with Payton as the head coach. No move was made in 2023 and just one was made in 2024, a deal that sent Baron Browning to the Cardinals. The team took advantage of the Saints willingness to deal a fourth-round pick for Devaughn Vele back in the preseason, but the Broncos aren’t exactly a team like the Eagles that is making trades left and right throughout the season.

Payton and this organization have plenty of assets to move within the next day. Will any team make a phone call to the Mile High city with a deal that’s worth their time? It’s not like a trade to win now is of the utmost importance. Denver has many of the core guys locked in for the foreseeable future on contract extensions while Bo Nix is on the second year of his four-year rookie contract. The time to take advantage of winning has to be sometime on Nix’s cheap deal, but it doesn’t have to be this year if the trade doesn’t make 100% sense.

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