Sean Payton Joked With Pat Surtain II About Trading Him for Marshon Lattimore

The Denver Broncos head coach is a football psychologist of sorts.

Sep 22, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) works out prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Prior to his head-to-head matchup with Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Bowler Mike Evans, Denver Broncos superstar cornerback Patrick Surtain II was extremely confident that he had a workable plan in place. Not to be overlooked, Tampa's Chris Godwin would also be a formidable challenge for the Broncos and Surtain's boundary partner, Riley Moss.

"Mike, he's a great player," Surtain said of Evans days before the game. "He's done it like you said, consistently over the years, and Godwin does it at a high level as well, too. We definitely have [an] eye out for those two and I think we have a great plan moving forward towards the week."

To say Surtain emerged victorious would be an understatement, and not just because the Broncos Pro Bowl corner held Evans to only one catch for a measly eight yards in his coverage. Evans finished with two receptions for 17 yards (on three targets) in Denver's 26-7 win over Tampa.

Even more compelling evidence came from Next Gen Stats, who reported that Surtain followed Evans on 24 of 34 of his routes. The Broncos' game plan of trusting Surtain's ability to control his assignment proved especially sound.

Surtain's ability to lock horns with the elite pass-catchers is already well-known to Broncos head coach Sean Payton and a host of others. Still, it didn't stop him from joking to Surtain that he could pull off a hypothetical trade with his good friend in New Orleans, Dennis Allen, to secure a one-week-only swap deal for Saints corner Marshon Lattimore.

Lattimore has a particularly good track record going against the Bucs' record-breaking receiver, so Payton had to wait until the team was already on the plane ride to Florida before he got Surtain's response to the fanciful trade..

"It's a good stretch of receivers," Payton said of Surtain's recent assignments. "We were talking about it [at] the start of the week, and I asked him, I said, 'Hey, if Dennis Allen wants to do a quick trade for one week, 'I'll take Lattimore and go there and then we'll bring you back,' you know, giving him a hard time. Lattimore has always defended Evans well. So, we went and got 35 snaps, of bump-and-run Lattimore and Evans."

Steeling Surtain to the challenges that lay ahead was a savvy head coach playing classic a mind game. Payton knew he needed his guy to shut the door on Evans in no uncertain terms.

"He responded," Payton said of Surtain. "So it was good. No trade."

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Payton needn't have wasted his Machiavellian energy because this season, Surtain has shut down DK Metcalf, George Pickens, and now, Evans — and the Broncos' young corner has only relinquished six receptions for 63 yards.

Hitching the wagon to Surtain is proving worthwhile, and it will continue to form a massive part of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph's blueprint moving forward. Taking away the opposing quarterback's primary target will always give an offense a riddle to solve, and after registering seven sacks in Tampa, the proof was in the pudding.

In many ways, the Broncos are on a voyage to learn more about themselves. But in Surtain, the Broncos undoubtedly have a bonafide generational cover corner who can survive and thrive on an island from one week to the next.

It allows the Broncos defense to pin its ears back and attack, which wears blocking units down. Counting on Surtain to do his job is the most routine part of the aggressive strategy, but having enough fresh pass rushers to keep it going is where the complexity lies.

Thankfully, the Broncos promoted edge rusher Dondrea Tillman to the 53-man roster to help cover Baron Browning's departure to injured reserve. Playing fresh and in spurts yielded two crucial sacks in Tillman's NFL debut.

Tillman's emergence meant the other edge rushers didn't have to carry all the load in the hot and humid conditions in Florida.

"We weren't going to just let the other three play 60 snaps or 50 snaps," Payton said of the rotation strategy on Monday. "I was pleased with his effort. He's strong. I've mentioned earlier in the week, we've seen a lot from him. I was excited to see him take advantage of the opportunity."

In the final analysis, Surtain is just one part of the Broncos' plan on defense, but without him, it likely wouldn't work in the first place. No trade clause? No problem, Pat.

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