(Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports)
Nobody is going to feel bad for Sean Payton.
Payton could have stayed in NFL coaching hibernation, but the Denver Broncos were in the middle of a messy head coaching search and paid big to land Payton. They traded a first- and second-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for Payton and a third-round pick, then gave the coach a deal that was reportedly $18 million a season. At the time Payton was reported to be the second-highest paid coach in American sports.
And when the Broncos hired Payton, everyone had to understand the most realistic outcome for the summer of 2024 was the exact one Denver finds itself in.
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Payton didn’t fix Russell Wilson. Nor did he seem too intent on trying, based on the Broncos asking Wilson last October to change an injury guarantee in his contract or be benched the rest of the season. That was unprofessional from the Broncos, and no matter how much Payton insisted he knew nothing about that ultimatum, nobody with common sense should believe it. Payton didn’t even last two months into one regular season with Wilson (which, statistically, wasn’t all that bad for Wilson), which indicates he was never all that into making it work.
That led the Broncos right into an absurd decision, eating an $85 million dead cap hit to cut Wilson. It’ll be $53 million this year and $32 million next year, according to Spotrac. The total hit more than doubled the record for largest dead cap hit in NFL history, which was Matt Ryan and $40.53 million.
The Broncos’ roster was already thin due to draft picks surrendered in trades for Wilson and Payton. They had little cap flexibility and didn’t add much in free agency, which had to annoy the notoriously impulsive Payton. Typically, rebuilds in the NFL can be accomplished in a couple years, if you hit enough home runs. When you hear that a team set itself back a decade with a certain decision, that’s false. But in the Broncos’ case, the…
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Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-20 12:31:30
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