In what would have been a wild turn of events, Broncos head coach Sean Payton considered giving up his job to longtime friend Bill Belichick in 2024, Seth Wickersham of ESPN reports. It would have been a temporary demotion for Payton, who would have run the offense until Belichick broke Don Shula‘s record for most head coaching wins. In the end, though, Payton never proposed the idea to Broncos owner Greg Penner.
Belichick’s 24-year run with the Patriots wrapped up after a 4-13 season in 2023. The eight-time Super Bowl winner (including six as a head coach) has not worked in the NFL since then.
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Now entering his second season as North Carolina’s head coach, Belichick is stuck on 333 wins at the pro level. It seems unlikely he will ever return to the NFL to build on that total, leaving the Chiefs’ Andy Reid as the only real near-term threat to Shula’s record of 347 victories. Reid has amassed 307 wins, though it is not a lock the 68-year-old will hang around long enough to go by Shula.
While it is unclear if Belichick would have been open to Payton’s proposal, it is hard to believe Penner would have signed off on it. Expecting Payton to lead them out of a seven-year rut, the Broncos paid a high price to hire him in 2023. Not only did they award Payton a lucrative five-year deal, but because he was still under contract with the Saints, the Broncos had to give up draft compensation. Denver sent a 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 second-rounder to New Orleans for Payton and a ’24 third-rounder.
Payton’s tenure with the Broncos got off to a slow start in 2023, an 8-9 season and their eighth in a row without a playoff berth. The offensive guru did not mesh with quarterback Russell Wilson, leading the Broncos to release the former star and take on a then-record $85MM in dead money. Several weeks later, Denver found a quality replacement for Wilson in 2024 first-rounder Bo Nix.
Payton and Nix have worked well together, evidenced by their 24-10 record and back-to-back playoff berths, though they did engage in a heated sideline exchange in a win over the Raiders during the QB’s rookie year. The dustup came days after Nix asked Payton how much longer he would continue to call offensive plays, according to Wickersham.
Payton responded eight or nine years at the time, but at the end of their argument, he shouted: “You know the question you asked me the other day? Right now, it feels like one or two years — if this continues!”
Payton made that comment in the heat of the moment, though it proved correct when he announced in February that 31-year-old offensive coordinator Davis Webb would take over playcalling duties. Age factored into the decision.
“Playcalling is harder at 62 than at 42,” Payton told Wickersham. “As you get older, maybe you don’t like driving in the rain at night.”
In January’s AFC title game, Payton’s finale as the playcaller, the Broncos’ offense floundered behind backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in a 10-7 loss to the Patriots. If not for the broken ankle Nix suffered late in a divisional-round win over the Bills, the Broncos would have stood a strong chance to beat the Patriots and advance to Super Bowl LX. With a healthy Nix returning and a top-notch roster in place, Payton and the Broncos will go into 2026 with legitimate Super Bowl LXI hopes.
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