Sean Payton Breaks Silence on National TV, Dishes on Broncos' Interest

Sean Payton is in the Denver Broncos' crosshairs to fill their head-coaching vacancy.

On Saturday, ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news that the New Orleans Saints had granted the Denver Broncos' request to interview former head coach Sean Payton. As a current FOX Sports analyst, Payton confirmed that report on Sunday, revealing that he's already spoken with Denver's "owner."

"Denver's the first team," Payton said on live television. "I was able to have a conversation with their owner. That's kind of the protocol... The interview process can't officially begin until the 17th of this month." 

Whether Payton is referring to Broncos controlling owner Rob Walton, or co-owner and team CEO Greg Penner, it's unclear. But I'd hazard to guess that Payton spoke with the latter, since Penner himself revealed after Nathaniel Hackett was fired that he'd be in charge of the team's head-coaching search. 

It was interesting to hear Payton discuss his candidacy as a head coach on TV. He was asked about the quarterback situation of a given team, and whether it would be the deciding factor in where he ultimately lands. 

"I think that it's really about the triangular relationship—ownership, front office, head coach," Payton said. "When we went to New Orleans—and I say 'we' because there were a lot of people involved—the quarterback was unsettled at that time. So I think ownership and the functionality of the front office is most important."

Yesterday, the Broncos reached out to the Saints to inquire about their former HC Sean Payton.@SeanPayton discusses the situation and his possible return to the NFL ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/XDr7HADIUT

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 8, 2023

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Indeed, when Payton first got the head-coaching job in New Orleans, he didn't have an understood starting quarterback. Drew Brees had been allowed to leave San Diego in free agency due to the career-threatening injury he suffered at season's end and the Chargers' first-round investment in Philip Rivers in the 2004 NFL draft.

Brees hit the 2006 free-agent market as a quarterback many teams perceived as damaged goods. He met with Miami and New Orleans as the only two serious suitors, and the former went with Daunte Culpepper. When Payton got Brees into his clutches in New Orleans, not long after the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina, he never let him go, and the rest is history. 

Payton is considered the top candidate in the 2023 head-coach hiring cycle, so you'd think his phone would already be blowing up with potential suitors. That's not the case, as we learned on Sunday, as well as Payton's awareness of NFL precedence for a head coach being traded. 

"No, there's absolutely not a team I'm leaning towards. And Denver's been the only team," Payton said. "I'm kind of picky... The protocol is just permission right now. This has happened before. It's happened maybe a half-dozen times. And then the interview process can start on the 17th, so we'll see what happens." 

A hot commodity on the head coaching market, @SeanPayton discusses if there's a team he's leaning towards and what he's looking for in a job. pic.twitter.com/3wEhJ78Pws

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 8, 2023

Payton is an NFL veteran coach and he understands that the odds say that wherever he might garner interest, those teams are likely to be in a various state of disrepair. With that in mind, he doesn't sound desperate to go running head-long into just any job offered to him, regardless of money. 

"There's no utopia," Payton said. "All these teams that we just saw Jay go through, they're all moving on for reasons. And some of them, you've got to be careful. If it's not just the coach, if there's other problems that are deeper. So for me, it would be ownership and front office." 

The Broncos have their warts, no doubt. Seven long years of missing the playoffs since Super Bowl 50 have taken the luster off a once-proud franchise. 

How Payton views the Broncos' vacancy likely depends greatly on his view of Russell Wilson and whether he can be fixed as the team believes. If Payton has his doubts on Wilson, the Denver job would be untenable, as his contract would be an albatross around the head coach's next for the foreseeable future. 

It's interesting to hear the most coveted candidate in this head-coaching cycle openly discussing these issues. Perhaps we'll hear more on the subject in the coming week, but in all likelihood, since the NFL ruled that the Broncos can't visit with Payton in-person until January 17, there's a good chance we won't know more until then. 

Payton did try awfully hard to make it sound like he's perfectly content with staying in the media business at FOX. A classic leverage ploy. 

In the meantime, there are other head-coaching candidates, including Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, whom the Broncos have been linked to in the rumor mill all week. Stay tuned. 

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