Over the past 48 months, Broncos Country has experienced a whirlwind of emotions.
There were some very high highs, from trading for a potential Hall of Fame quarterback and pairing him with an “exciting, young, offensive mind” in Nathaniel Hackett, to going on the longest winning streak in eight years and ending the near decade-long losing streak against the Chiefs.
However, there have been far more extreme lows for the fanbase, with the Hackett and Wilson moves looking like disasters, enduring one of the most embarrassing seasons ever witnessed in 2022, and the benching of what was supposed to be a franchise QB just last month. Wilson, Payton, Paton, and the organization as a whole have taken a verbal beating in the process from fans and media alike.
However, despite popular belief, the arrow actually is pointing up for the Denver Broncos for the first time in a long time, thanks to the impact of Sean Payton and Greg Penner, in several different ways.
#1: Nobody Has More Money to Spend Than the Denver Broncos
When the Broncos were sold in the summer of 2022, they were sold to the Penner/Walton ownership group for a whopping $4.65 billion – a record at the time.
That record did not last for long though, because new Commanders owner Josh Harris bought the team for $6.05 billion a year later.
Why is this relevant? Harris was the other finalist for the sale of Denver, and after the sale was completed it was reported by ProFootballTalk that Harris would have bid $5 billion on the team, but he believed the Waltons would have gone as high as needed to complete the sale.
This ownership group is by far the richest in the NFL. As a result, cash is an asset that will be more available to Denver more than to any other organization in the league.
NFL fans across the league have seen teams with an excess of cash be able to circumvent the salary cap, and Denver will be able to do so for the foreseeable future. Not only are they enabled to do so, but they’re incentivized to do so as they attempt to navigate the fallout of the aforementioned Wilson and Hackett disasters.
#2: Improvements Already Shown in Year One of the Payton Era
While the record would be disappointing to Payton, it should impress most outside observers.
In his first year on the job, with a roster that largely isn’t his own and a quarterback he did not believe was a franchise QB, he led the franchise to its best record since 2016, when Gary Kubiak was still coaching the team.
Beyond the record, there were multiple areas of the team where we saw substantial and consequential improvement.
The first area was health, where for years the Broncos have been one of the most injured teams in football. Payton brought in Beau Lowery, whom he worked with for almost a decade in New Orleans, and, after three straight seasons finishing within the top ten of most salary on injured reserve, Denver finished 17th in that figure, while cutting their salary on IR from last year in half.
While being able to stay on the field was a huge improvement made by Payton, Lowery and his staff, there were also major improvements in the level of play.
Two areas in particular took major steps forward in 2023 after being some of the worst in the league in 2022 –special teams and the offensive line.
Special teams saw an improvement in numerous areas, whether it was having the best FG percentage from a Broncos kicker in over a decade, one of the best kickoff return units in the NFL featuring Pro Bowl returner Marvin Mims Jr., or much-improved kickoff units.
After finishing 25th in Rich Gosselin’s 2022 special teams rankings, the Broncos improved to seventh on the list in 2023.
The Broncos also saw dramatic improvement on the offensive line. The offensive line was a major area of focus for Payton immediately when he was hired, bringing in Zach Strief as his offensive line coach and adding guard Ben Powers and tackle Mike McGlinchey.
The improvement in the new offense was evident across the board, with the Payton/Strief combo getting career years out of Bolles, Meinerz, and Cushenberry and mostly stabilizing play from McGlinchey and Powers.
The Broncos also consistently graded out well on the offensive line, with ESPN and PFF both ranking them among their top ten offensive lines this season.
In each of these areas, Payton and his staff took the Broncos from one of the worst in the league to one of the best, and we should see that in other aspects of the roster as Payton gets more of his hand-picked players in the building.
#3 – Payton is not Willing to Settle for Mediocrity
Through his actions over his first twelve months on the job, Payton has shown time and time again that he is not willing to settle for just being in the mix if he cannot pursue a championship.
When Payton took the job, many thought he’d take 2023 as a down year, avoiding spending big and taking time to evaluate the roster.
Instead, he did the opposite, spending the most of any team in free agency and moving up twice on Day 2 of the draft.
Then, in July, Payton said he would be ‘pissed off’ if this wasn’t a playoff team. Following the five-game win streak, it would’ve been easy to sell yourself and the fanbase on the belief that without such a bad start to the year, you could’ve made the playoffs.
While this would be fun in the short term, that is not their goal, and Payton knows that.
That is why he is choosing to release Russell Wilson before guaranteeing him another $37 million. It’s why he’s trading Jerry Jeudy for draft capital and letting Justin Simmons walk for cap relief.
One could argue that this move is going to make the Denver Broncos worse in the short term, but this team wasn’t going to be able to win a Super Bowl with Wilson. Payton showing he’s willing to likely take a step backwards to better position the team for the ultimate goal is great news for Broncos Country.
