Sean Payton: Broncos' Preseason Critics 'Don't Have a Clue'

Sean Payton got the last laugh.

CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 28 - Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton before a game between the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Saturday, December 28, 2024. / Jeff Moreland / IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

In his second year as Denver Broncos head coach, Sean Payton delivered the club's first winning season since 2016 and its first playoff berth since 2015. The Broncos went 10-7 in a season where the NFL at large and the oddsmakers predicted they'd be cellar-dwellers yet again.

Vegas set Denver's over/under win total at 5.5 games. Payton won 10, nearly doubling the expectation.

With a trip to Upstate New York to battle the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard Round of the playoffs next up for the Broncos, Payton reflected on all the doubt and criticism his team endured before the season.

“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," Payton said on Monday.

Indeed, the Broncos received sub-par grades for taking the sixth quarterback off the draft board at No. 12 overall. And yet, Bo Nix not only won the starting job out of training camp — becoming the first rookie quarterback to be named the Week-1 starter since John Elway in 1983 — but the Oregon product also went on to deliver one of the most historic first-year campaigns in NFL history.

Nix leading the Broncos back to the playoffs in Year 1 was the icing on the cake. But make no bones about it; all the noise and criticism helped the Broncos develop a chip on their shoulders.

"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.”

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All the dead money the Broncos carried on their salary cap this year casts the playoff berth in a totally different light. It was actually north of $80 million. The Broncos carried $91.2 million in dead money this season — which equated to $91.2 million that they couldn't spend on players, although their opponents could.

Payton deserves to flex a little bit. On top of that, the Broncos won 10 games with a rookie quarterback, historic though his year-one body of work was.

Then we get to Denver's defense, which garnered next to no respect before the season started. Pundits pointed to cornerback Patrick Surtain II as the only notable player on defense, but by season's end, multiple guys were either selected to the Pro Bowl or voted as alternates, including rush linebacker Nik Bonitto (starter), defensive lineman Zach Allen, and safety Brandon Jones.

And let's not forget the Broncos' purportedly woeful dearth of talent at the skill positions. No doubt, that has been an obstacle to overcome, but the arrival of a burgeoning franchise quarterback turned out to be the proverbial tide that raised the ships around him.

Courtland Sutton notched his second-career 1,000-yard receiving campaign, while Marvin Mims Jr. emerged in the second half of the season as one of the NFL's most dynamic playmakers. The Broncos still have major question marks at tight end and running back, but the offensive line that Payton heavily invested in turned out to equalize some of those concerns.

In so many ways, the Broncos outkicked their coverage in 2024. Payton's top-level coaching, and that of his handpicked staff, was and will continue to be the ultimate difference-maker for the Broncos.

Being the player that he is, Nix was always going to thrive in the NFL. But lost amdist the guffaws and dismissive draft grades was the fact that of all the places Nix could have gone, he ended up in Denver with Payton — literally the perfect landing spot.

I said it when it happened; the NFL would live to regret allowing Nix to fall into Payton's hands at No. 12 overall. So far, it's held true, and I don't expect it to change.

$91 million in the hole, the Broncos had to rely on their draft class and young, unproven players in order to compete this year, and to a man, those guys stepped up and answered the bell.

“It’s the idea that we’d all like to go out and shop for ‘X’ number of groceries, but we’re going to have to go down a different aisle," Payton reflected. "We’re going to have to develop quickly and not be afraid of playing younger players earlier maybe than normal. [We have to] kind of bow up here a little bit and take on this challenge, and then find these guys that are like-minded and that are competitive."

Just look at the contributions Denver garnered from its draft class: Nix, Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin, Audric Estime, Jonah Elliss, and Kris Abrams-Draine. Broncos GM George Paton crushed the draft this year as Payton cultivated a "bow up" mindset in the locker room.

Then look at the younger guys still playing on a rookie contract who were heretofore the epitome of unproven. Players like Mims (as an offensive guy), Bonitto, outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper, running back Jaleel McLaughlin, center Luke Wattenberg, cornerbacks Riley Moss and Ja'Quan McMillian, linebacker Justin Strnad, and safety P.J. Locke all earned their stripes in 2024.

Plus, the under-the-radar veteran additions like Jones, and defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach also paid huge dividends for the Broncos. Without them stepping up, we'd be singing a different tune right about now.

"I use that term, ‘Young and hungry can be dangerous,’ and it’s true," Payton said. "There’s a little naivete to not knowing even. It’s inspiring as a coach to work with players like that.”

One day removed from having broken the franchise's eight-year playoff drought, Payton has the room to breathe and reflect on the Herculean effort he led to turn the Broncos ship around in 2024. The ballsy moves Payton made to rebuild the Broncos in his image — releasing Russell Wilson and Justin Simmons, letting Josey Jewell walk, and trading away Jerry Jeudy — could have blown back on the veteran head coach in a variety of negative ways.

Trusting himself and his staff, Payton took a leap of faith and it paid off in spades.

As Julius Caesar may or may not have said: "It's only hubris if I fail."

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