Sean Payton won his only Super Bowl as head coach when Drew Brees was his quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. Since then, several quarterbacks have walked through the doors of teams he has managed, but none of them came close to holding a candle to the 13-time Pro Bowler. Not even Russell Wilson .
The 35-year-old is also part of the elite class of QBs who have tasted Super Bowl victory. However, when he moved to the Denver Broncos, his value plummeted in his first season. Payton stepped in after a lengthy absence from coaching. Yet the pair acted like water and oil, unable to stay on the same page.
ESPN Get Up analyst and former NFL star Ryan Clark termed it the power struggles as Payton, ‘a man still mourning his lover.’ Clark insisted that Brees and Wilson received entirely different treatment from Payton.
If I'm a quarterback and I'm worth anything, I do not go play for him. He's behaving like a man who is still mourning his lover [Drew Brees]. He never treated Drew Brees the way he treated Russell Wilson. Clark via The Stephen A. Smith Show
Wilson was under pressure to perform because of his inflated $242.6 million contract, and when he finally saw improvement in his performance, the Broncos front office benched him . Later, the former Seattle Seahawks man revealed that contract disputes led to his eventual demotion.
Earlier this month, Payton and the Broncos released Wilson. Afterward, he signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
An NFL analyst predicts the best quarterbacks for the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton
Following Wilson’s exit, the Broncos currently have Jarett Stidham as the only QB enlisted with the team. Despite the ‘QB Merry Go Around’ taking place after the March 15 free agency deadline, Sean Payton didn’t show much interest in snatching any one of Justin Fields, Kirk Cousins, or even Zach Wilson. Instead, The Athletic‘s Nick Kosmider believes he may be eyeing Bo Nix in the draft.
Very similar hand size. Drew was 6-foot-and-a-half, and Bo is 6-2. But they’re both 215. If I were in his shoes and I had Drew Brees, I’d see a little bit of that in a guy like Bo Nix. Kosmider wrote on March 22
During the NFL Combine in February, Payton revealed how he evaluates a quarterback. The primary ability that he searches for in a potential candidate is ‘multitasking.’
I think one thing that’s hard to measure is their ability to multitask, [process], and make decisions. You can visit with someone, and they can be intelligent, but how quickly can they deliver the information? Payton said
The Denver Broncos currently hold the 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft. Nix is projected to be just below the first-tier QBs (Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels) and may be selected during day 2 of the event.
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