Sean Payton: Cowboys Icon Troy Aikman Top Hire as Broncos Coach

“The Broncos can’t take a chance on anybody,” Cowboys legend Troy Aikman says. “Sean Payton is in the driver's seat.”

FRISCO - About as much as anybody. Troy Aikman has down the pulse of the NFL.

And he knows who he would hire if he was the person in charge of the Denver Broncos. 

Aikman, the legendary Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys QB now the color commentator on “Monday Night Football,” has revealed the view that the Broncos should make a play for former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.

“The Broncos can’t take a chance on anybody,” Aikman said. “Sean Payton is in the driver's seat.”

Those two sentences are more complicated than they might seem at first glance.

“Take a chance”? That’s surely a reference to what Denver did a year ago, hiring the now-fired Nathaniel Hackett off the Packers staff despite his having never before been a head coach.

And “the driver’s seat”? That is about the fact that Payton is going to be in consideration for every vacancy this offseason .. and can be patient as he picks and chooses.

Could Payton “fix” slumped quarterback Russell Wilson? Would he want to take over a team devoid of picks due to Denver’s trade with Seattle to get Wilson? Will he have control in Denver?

Smart guesses say “no” to all of the above. … suggesting that Payton won’t take this unattractive job, preferring to wait on the Rams, the Chargers and others. (Yes, the Dallas Cowboys and Mike McCarthy’s office continues to be a source of unfair gossip).

Payton led the Saints to a Super Bowl in 2009 and compiled a 152-89 record in 15 seasons in New Orleans before “retiring” a year ago.

Aikman is right about Payton’s ranking in the minds of teams … but we wonder if the Broncos are even able to get him in for an interview before the turn to a list of prospects that likely includes Dallas assistants Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore.

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