Sean Payton Lands in Denver

Payton no longer resides in the NFC South.

The Denver Broncos are trading their 2023 first-round pick and next year's third-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for head coach Sean Payton, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Momentum for Payton to land a job appeared to have slowed down last week as Carolina hired Frank Reich and Arizona and Houston, the other two organizations he interviewed with, looked to go in a different direction.

The Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett after just one year on the job, but it was a disastrous one year as the team finished dead last in the AFC West with a 5-12 record. Most head coaches would get a pass for a rough first year, but not when you make a massive trade to acquire one of the top quarterbacks in the league in Russell Wilson. The expectation was to win right away and Hackett's offense never turned the corner to help out a strong defensive unit. 

The Panthers met with and interviewed Payton in New York over a week ago before deciding to hire Reich as the sixth head coach in franchise history.

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