Sean Payton has been held in excessive regard amongst NFL head coaches for almost twenty years. Regardless of his lone Tremendous Bowl win and look coming again in 2009, Payton is taken into account one of many prime coaches of his period.
The one coaches with extra Tremendous Bowl wins since Payton grew to become a head coach in 2006 are Invoice Belichick with New England and Andy Reid in Kansas Metropolis. Belichick and Reid have received three apiece since Payton started his head-coaching profession.
Even with all of the success and accolades through the years, Payton finds himself beneath scrutiny after a disappointing first yr in Denver. It was an eight-win marketing campaign surrounded by Payton’s drama with former quarterback Russell Wilson.
With Wilson out of the best way now, there are not any extra excuses. Payton was fairly vocal final yr about his displeasure with Wilson. He went out of his approach upon arriving in Denver to let Wilson and everybody know who was in cost. Then Payton led a crew most thought was able to compete to an 8-9 file.
For all of the exceptional issues Payton has accomplished in his profession, he wasn’t capable of overcome the hype surrounding his arrival in Denver. He was supposed to return in and switch this franchise round instantly. The Broncos did win extra video games in 2023 than the earlier season however nonetheless completed beneath .500.
Payton’s groups have hovered round eight to 9 wins in his final three teaching campaigns going again to New Orleans. And whereas he has coached in a number of NFC title video games, having solely coached in a single Tremendous Bowl has begun to seem like a blemish on his resume. In equity to Payton, the Saints did come out of that Tremendous Bowl victorious.
Just lately, Payton was ranked 18th amongst NFL head coaches in CBS Sports activities’ prime NFL coaches checklist.
“There may not be a harder coach to position, maybe as a result of Payton’s turn into so polarizing. As soon as the vaunted chief of a hyper-efficient New Orleans Saints contender, he is managed a single playoff victory in his final 4 years as a head coach, and now he is resetting the desk in Denver, possible with a rookie quarterback in Bo Nix,” CBS Sports activities’ Cody Benjamin wrote.
FS1’s Colin Cowherd did his HC rating and listed Payton fourth. Some would name Payton polarizing as seen right here with blended evaluations in two totally different rankings. If Payton goes to dwell as much as that No. 4 rating, he’ll have to get the Broncos to greater than eight or 9 wins this season.
Coach Payton’s previous accomplishments are nice, however the NFL is a “what have you ever accomplished for me currently” sort of league. Every season is an replace to the general resume. Certainly one of Payton’s mentors (Invoice Parcells) as soon as stated, “You might be what your file says you might be.”
Over the previous few years, Payton’s file says he’s a lot nearer to the 18th-ranked coach than he’s to the fourth. One other mediocre yr and a few folks will start to query Payton’s legacy and whether or not he deserves to be talked about alongside a few of soccer’s best coaches.
