ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos proprietor and CEO Greg Penner mentioned at the beginning of the group’s teaching search he needed a “sturdy chief for this group,” and Tuesday sources advised ESPN the Broncos had agreed to a commerce with the New Orleans Saints to ultimately make Sean Payton the nineteenth head coach within the franchise’s historical past.
As a result of he had signed an extension with the Saints, in 2019, that was set to run by way of the 2024 season, the Saints and the Broncos needed to negotiate compensation for Denver to signal Payton as their head coach.
The Saints will obtain the Broncos’ 2023 first-round decide (No. 29 general) and their 2024 second-round decide for Payton and the Saints’ 2024 third-round choice, sources advised ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Broncos are additionally anticipated to now make Payton one of many highest-paid head coaches within the league.
The Broncos had traded their first-round decide to the Seattle Seahawks in final yr’s blockbuster commerce to amass Russell Wilson however then acquired a first-round decide from the Miami Dolphins within the commerce that despatched Bradley Chubb to Miami final season. That decide initially belonged to the San Francisco 49ers, who despatched the decide to Miami within the commerce that allowed them to select Trey Lance within the 2021 draft.
The commerce places the Saints again into the primary spherical of the 2023 draft. New Orleans had traded their 2023 choice to the Philadelphia Eagles in a draft picks commerce final yr.
Payton, who was the NFL’s Coach of the 12 months in 2006, will Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired on Dec. 26, the day after the Broncos’ dismal 51-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium that dropped Denver to 4-11. They completed the season 5-12 as interim coach Jerry Rosburg closed out the yr.
Payton was 152-89 in his 15 seasons as Saints head coach together with a win in Tremendous Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts. Payton didn’t coach this season and was an analyst for Fox Sports activities.
Payton will probably be tasked with repairing the league’s lowest-scoring offense in 2022 as Wilson completed with a career-low 16 landing passes and was sacked a career-most 55 instances. The Broncos have missed the playoffs seven consecutive seasons and have fired three head coaches — Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio and Hackett — since January of 2019.
Kicker Brandon McManus is the one participant on the present roster who was in uniform for the Broncos’ final playoff recreation — their Tremendous Bowl 50 win to shut out the 2015 season.
Payton initially interviewed with Broncos officers Jan. 17 and was the fifth of eight candidates initially interviewed within the first wave. Penner had tipped his hand earlier than the search started as to why somebody of Payton’s expertise might find yourself with the job.
“Clearly, the X’s and O’s are essential, however we’d like a robust chief for this group that is centered on profitable,” Penner mentioned after Hackett was fired. “That begins with tradition. It is instilling a way of accountability and self-discipline. We want an identification on offense. At the start line, it must be about tradition and management. These traits are what we’ll be centered on essentially the most.”
Michigan coach Harbaugh, former Stanford head coach David Shaw, former Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris and former Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell have been all former NFL head coaches initially interviewed by the Broncos. San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, who’s poised to turn out to be the Houston Texans coach, was the final of the eight candidates interviewed.
Payton’s Saints groups, with Drew Brees at quarterback, have been persistently among the many league’s finest on offense. The Saints gained at the least 10 video games 9 instances in his tenure and went to the playoffs 9 instances.
Brees was a 12-time Professional Bowl choice in Payton’s tenure with the Saints. Brees topped 4,000 yards passing 12 instances and topped 5,000 yards passing 5 instances. Brees led the league in passing seven instances.
Payton was suspended, with out pay, for the 2012 season as punishment after a league investigation the Saints had a bounty program to pay gamers for hits on opposing gamers.
The Broncos completed final within the league in scoring this season (16.9 factors per recreation), final within the league in third-down conversions, scored 16 or fewer factors in 11 video games and misplaced 9 video games by seven or fewer factors.
Hackett’s dismissal put an abrupt finish to the shortest tenure of any noninterim head coach in franchise historical past. Penner had decreed after Hackett was fired “we have got to get this proper.”
At one level this season, the Broncos featured the No. 1 scoring protection and the No. 32 scoring offense. The Broncos’ present playoff drought can be the franchise’s longest for the reason that franchise’s earliest years, when it missed the playoffs between 1960 and 1976.
It is a far cry from Corridor of Famer Pat Bowlen’s three-decade run as proprietor, when the Broncos went to extra Tremendous Bowls (seven) than they’d dropping seasons. This season can be the fifth time the Broncos have averaged fewer than 20 factors per recreation over the previous seven years. Till Hackett’s firing, Josh McDaniels had the shortest tenure because the group’s noninterim head coach within the post-AFL/NFL merger period. He was fired in 2010 with 4 video games remaining in his second season on job. The Broncos have been 3-9 when he was fired.
Hackett, 42, was employed with a lot fanfare final January after serving three seasons because the Inexperienced Bay Packers’ offensive coordinator below Matt LaFleur. On the time, Paton known as Hackett a “dynamic chief and coach whose intelligence, innovation and charisma impressed us from the very begin of the method.”
Shortly after Hackett’s hiring, the Broncos traded 5 draft picks, together with two first-rounders and two second-rounders, in addition to three gamers to the Seattle Seahawks to amass Wilson. Wilson was signed to a five-year, $245 million contract extension simply earlier than the beginning of the season.