A few weeks ago, Sean Payton ranked as Pro Football Focus' No. 2 returning head coach, behind only Kansas City's Andy Reid. Since his arrival in 2023, Payton's turnaround of the Denver Broncos has been masterful and worthy of recognition.
I'm not sure CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin got the memo. In Benjamin's head coach rankings of 2025, Payton checks in at No. 11. It's an improvement over where Benjamin had Payton ranked last year (18), but most Broncos fans would agree that No. 11 is far too low.
"The stink of his sluggish and short-lived Russell Wilson marriage was all but fully offset by the promise of Bo Nix's arrival in 2024. It appears Payton's keen on leaning deep into the ground game and defense as the next step to contention," Benjamin wrote. "If the reigning champion Eagles are any indication, it might not be the wrong play, provided he also coaxes additional growth out of Nix under center."
In descending order, Benjamin ranked the top five head coaches thusly: 1. Andy Reid, 2. Sean McVay, 3. John Harbaugh, 4. Nick Sirianni, and 5. Dan Campbell. Fellow AFC West head coach Jim Harbaugh ranked No. 6.
Like all of these offseason lists and rankings, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak. It's offseason fodder to fill the void while we all await the return of the real thing.
Fortunately, that return is coming very soon, with the Broncos' rookies reporting for training camp on Wednesday, followed by the veterans on July 22. Training camp will officially kick off on Friday, July 25, with fans in attendance.
As for Payton, he's done the more with the tools he's been given, and in the shortest amount of time, than the coaches ahead of him on Benjamin's list. That's not to take anything away from the top 10 coaches, but Payton inherited a washed-up Wilson and roster that had been devoid of first and second-round draft picks for two years, and immediately improved the Broncos' win total by three games.
It didn't result in a winning season (8-9), but Payton had the Broncos on the right track. The fateful decision to release Wilson came next, which created the imperative of finding a new franchise quarterback.
Enter Nix — the sixth quarterback taken in the 2024 NFL draft. He would go on to out-produce the five quarterbacks drafted ahead of him statistically, leading the Broncos to a double-digit winning season, and snapping the team's previous eight-year playoff drought.
Payton's 2024 Broncos boasted five players selected to the A.P.'s All-Pro team. That was the most, for the Broncos, since the 1990s, which is saying something, as the Peyton Manning-led teams from 2012-15 were loaded with stars.
When Payton opted to hire Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator in 2023, it came with no small amount of blowback and controversy. But after a rocky start defensively, Payton has been vindicated in his decision to hire the failed former Broncos head coach.
Joseph has done a bang-up job, fielding a top-10 defense last season that led the NFL in sacks (63). It catapulted him back into the head-coaching conversation.
When you look at the turnaround the Broncos have experienced on the health front, it's no coincidence that it has corresponded with the revivification of the team's outlook. The Broncos going from being one of the NFL's most snake-bitten teams pre-Payton, to being one of the healthiest over the past two years, is also a credit to his vision and competency as a head coach.
And did I mention that Payton fielded a top-10 scoring offense with a rookie quarterback? In just about every measurable way, the Broncos' turnaround has his fingerprints all over it.
Payton proved himself to be one of the NFL's best head coaches more than a decade ago when he brought home the first and only Lombardi Trophy in the history of the New Orleans Saints. He turned around that franchise and he's in the early stages of doing the same in Denver.
