Famous Radio Host Hypes Sean Payton’s Broncos, Fueling 2025 Buzz

Perhaps fans shouldn't be surprised that Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton is getting his flowers, especially from a national pundit like Colin Cowherd. Payton has breathed life into an organization that had plunged itself deeply into salary-cap purgatory thanks to the botched Russell Wilson contract and years of organizational ineptitude. 

Cowherd listed Payton's accomplishments in Denver, which have been wrought in two short years.

"He took a bad offensive line — the O-line is now ranked number two. He took over a shaky defense, they led the NFL in sacks," Cowherd said. "They upgraded at safety and linebacker, on players that were just Niners a year ago. He inherited a horrible culture, a mess at quarterback, moved off Russell Wilson('s) dead cap money, and in a division with Andy Reid and Jim Harbaugh, he took a rookie quarterback to the playoffs. That is what I've been saying about Sean Payton. He is direct. He is curt. He can turn people off. He is brilliant."

Cowherd's comments shine a light on the long-term mission Payton embarked upon back in February 2023 when he took the top job in the Mile High City. Mopping up the considerable mess left by the Wilson trade and the ill-advised Nathaniel Hackett hire was never going to be easy, even for a savvy veteran head coach like Payton.

But the hardest decision on paper actually turned out to be the most simplistic. Releasing Wilson in the face of $85 million in dead-money charges to the salary cap served notice that Payton was moving forward with a new vision, and it would be with his own guy under center. 

In Cowherd's opinion, Payton was proving just how great his coaching chops actually were, even before he made the seismic decision to let Wilson go. That was just part of the far bigger jigsaw puzzle, simply because success is so often measured at the NFL level by how well a team has laid down the foundation stones in the trenches. 

In Payton's first year in Denver, it was safe to say that the data was rather skewed due to Wilson's catastrophic habit of scrambling his way into the waiting arms of opposing pass rushers. He was sacked 45 times, most of which were his fault.

Thankfully, the arrival of Bo Nix in last year's draft allowed the Broncos to take far better care of the ball. Nix, unlike Wilson, also didn't put the Broncos in overly poor down-and-distance situations. 

The investment Payton's Broncos have made in the offensive line, with four contracts being handed out on his watch, should allow Nix to really grow as a passer. When it came to constructing the framework of the O-Line, savvy team planning has given Payton the freedom to go after players who can augment already strong positional groups.

First-round cornerback Jahdae Barron is a prime example of this happening under Payton's leadership. It also facilitated Payton drafting a guy like RJ Harvey to add explosiveness in the Broncos' threadbare-looking running back room.

Plunging into the free-agent market for guys like tight end Evan Engram, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and safety Talanoa Hufanga likely wouldn't have been greenlit as fully if there had been any lingering holes up front.

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Cowherd has long been a proponent of Payton. The sports jockey has predicted success for Payton in Denver since he took the job, but on the heels of leading his team to the playoffs, Cowherd's prognostications now appear uncannily on the money.