Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Sean Payton Has TRANSFORMED Denver Broncos Expectations and CULTURE

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has transformed the Denver Broncos culture and has raised the level of expectations surrounding the team as they prepare for 2025. With Payton's hands on the turnaround, in what ways can he be better in the playcalling department, managing personnel, and leading as a head coach? Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!ChewyChewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. And right now you can save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by Clicking this link: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011l3Huc8/creativeref:1011l164602 GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Don Peyton has made the Denver Broncos better. But in 2025, if they're going to take the next step forward, we'll highlight how he can be better with his personnel, play calling, and some areas of management as the team's head coach. We'll break all that down and much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening in Broncos country?

Happy Friday. Welcome into another episode, Locked on Broncos, your day. Denver Broncos podcast, part of the lockdown podcast network where you know it is your team every day for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis more. This is the place to be every single day all year long. Thank you so much to everyone in Broncos country, all the everydayers out there. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet in every day or any yet to make us your first listen every day, it's super easy to do that by hitting that subscribe or that follow button.

and you'll never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Rourke. Bronco's beat reporter for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, the site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. And together we bring you a daily podcast here on your favorite team. And here's what we got on tap on today's jam-packed Friday episode. We're looking at Sean Payton,

how he's made the Denver Bronco is better. But there's ways that he can improve the team even further in 2025 by trusting in his personnel. We'll also tell you why Sean Payton can improve in the play call department and how he's perceived in terms of his management as a head coach. You're going to get all that on today's episode of the show. So Sarah, let's open it up right now. This is, I think, a very important topic, right?

Because two years ago when Nathaniel Hackett was fired, I think the overall state of the Denver Broncos was, wow, this team is a disaster. They've got new ownership coming in. It's going to be very interesting to see how they approach this. There were different head coaching candidates that were perceived in the process. Denver landed on Sean Pays. And Sean Peyton, as we know, comes in. He rules with an iron fist.

And I tell you what, there's a perception to Sean that a lot of people on the outside have of him. But when you actually get to see Sean work and in person, you know, he comes across. Some people think as grumpy or curmudgeon. I can tell you that Sean is just, he's competitive. He's got that fire to him. And look, I think ultimately for him, he's been doing this so long that I think that there's this respect that should be given out to.

and for what he has accomplished throughout his coaching career. But there's still things that he can continue to improve on here. And I think one of the more important elements, and this is something I know you're passionate about. Personnel and trusting that personnel is a big key. It really is. And I think, like you said, Sean Payton has earned more than the benefit of the doubt at this point, right?

I mean, he's a Super Bowl winning head coach. He's one of the winningest head coaches in modern football history. He's one of the best offensive minds in recent NFL history. and obviously he has turned around the culture of this Denver Broncos team. But I want to get just preemptively upset over the NFL draft for a little bit here, Cody, because there was a rumor that came out from ESPN, you know, Jordan Reed, one of the ESPN NFL draft insiders over there who said that the dark horse candidate for the Broncos in round one of this year's draft to watch for could be South Carolina's

Nick Eamon Worry, the safety. And that's great. Like he's a great player. He's a tremendous athlete. Could be a, you know, all pro at the safety position. But I want to get a little preemptively upset here because I feel like a lot of the time, what we struggle with over the last two years with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos and really, really pushing that ball forward is the fact that he has like his guys, right?

And when I mean his guys, I mean, we've heard all about the former saints that have been coming over. Totally great. Those guys know the offense. And as Sean Payton says, you know what to expect from those guys. But at the same time, how often are the Broncos going to sacrifice talent or the opportunity to upgrade in the talent department for whatever reason, right? I mean, you signed Talanoa Hufanga in free agency. You signed Brandon Jones last year. You cut Justin Simmons. You did all these things to revamp the position already. I would be so upset, Cody. not just I'm not saying hey they have to take this position in round one I think safety is the one position that makes no sense to me at all out of this year's draft other than quarterback so I just I would be so upset if that happened because it would be indicative that the Broncos are putting way

too much trust in Sean Payton guys again instead of upgrading the talent when you have a chance to do so well and I think that's where the gripe is here you know and I understand as a former coach I understand Sean's line of thinking. But at some point, you need someone to say like, hey, like, just you got to let your young guys make mistakes. Right. Let's use a good example. Okay, who are some of Sean's guys?

Michael Burton is one of Sean's guys, but Michael Burton isn't, you know, one of those guys that you're like, why is he on the field? What's he doing this? Like, you know, he's taking snaps away from this part. You don't get that with Michael Burton, which is great. But like, I'll give you an example, little Jordan Humphrey, someone who we talked about a lot on this show last season. Little Jordan Humphrey, you know,

certainly earned, you know, a role and had a, you know, a key part for what the Broncos were doing. But it came at the cost of more playing time for guys like Devon Valey, obviously Troy Franklin down the stretch as well. And towards the end of the season, Troy Franklin, Devon Bailey ended up seeing a little bit more in terms of snap count, you know, overall snaps played in the game than Little Jordan. But why did it have to take to the end of the season, right?

And that's just because I know as a coach sometimes you trust your guys, guys like you have this affinity like you know what i may not get this type of boom bust production from this player but i'm going to get consistent reliable they do exactly what i need them to do but at some point you got to say look i understand this guy does everything that we asked them to do but we have these young guys that we drafted troy franklin we had a second round grade on and we can't get troy involved as much in the offensive game plan because you have a guy like little Jordan Humphrey taking up a majority of those snaps at the beginning part of the season, whereas you have to let these young guys go out there and make mistakes. And of course, you know, Troy had a,

he had three drops. Like people want to talk about the drop issue with Troy Franklin. Troy had three drops last season on what were deemed catchable passes. That's not a concern to me. I'm not worried about that. Troy's going to be fine in that department. They hit it against Buffalo. But you're telling me, like, Troy couldn't have benefited from getting more playing time early on in the season, playing in that big Z role that Sean Payton envisions him as. whereas it's like Sean's like I don't know if I can trust him to run the right route of times I don't know if he knows exactly where to go based on this like there's so many moving pieces to this but let the young guys play let them make their mistakes that's how they're going to

take a step forward and grow instead there is a little bit of a pecking order for Peyton's guys over younger guys and that sometimes can be a downfall of a coach we saw it last year with Marvin Mims early in the season right all of us we are sitting here every podcast after a game wondering, why is Marvin Mims not playing more? Why is he not getting more targets? Why are they not being more creative? And then over the course of the season, what do you know? We see them actually go ahead and do that and have success.

I'm not saying we're right all the time because we're not. But look, with guys like Will Jordan Humphrey, they were spinning their wheels with Giovante Williams on a game by game basis to the point that it was an abysmal performance in the running game overall. And they're just, they just keep throwing Javante Williams out there. I don't know. Why is it not working? You know, I don't get it.

Adrick Estime spent time in the doghouse for fumbling, despite the fact that other guys that were fumbling or dropping passes were getting more and more opportunities. And then you just see these continual sacrifice of, hey, we need to go make an upgrade here. Like, let's talk tight end, obviously, right? Last year, just one of the worst tight end performances that we've seen in NFL history, in my opinion,

in terms of the passing game. Like 19 catches led your team. at tight end from Lucas Krull, who probably wouldn't have been on most rosters around the NFL. Adam Troutman led the team with 188 receiving yards at the tight end position. You're telling me you couldn't do anything in the off season to make an upgrade at that position group. And I get the impression that it's because, well, we like Lucas Crowell. We like Nate Adkins.

We like, you know, X, Y, or Z. It's this, you know, that hubris of thinking that, man, we can't upgrade because I picked this guy or I found this guy and he's going like it's going to happen like we want to manifest all these different things and I get that I think that there's a huge like difference though between this favoritism of guys and and really being able to find those that those upgrades and talent playing favorites and player development Cody there's a there's a gray area in between those a fine line between those I don't know where the Broncos like I said this is preemptive frustration. We're two weeks away from the NFL

draft at this point. We don't know what the team's going to do, but I just I can't, I can't even stand the thought of sitting here on Friday two weeks from now after the first round is done and the Broncos haven't done anything to upgrade their weapons around Bo Nix. Well, and look,

I'm going to use my favorite Denzel Washington quote, as I so often love to do here on the show. When you pray for rain, you've got to deal with the mud too. And when it comes to player development, you've got to let these young guys go out there and make their mistakes. You know, that's the way that they're going to learn. And you know what? The fear of God works. You know, Sean Peyton, like I said, he's tough on guys. He's tough on guys. I mean, we've seen him chew out Cortland Sutton. We've seen

him chew out his guy, little Jordan Humphrey. You're going to get chewed out by Sean Peyton at some point. His coaches get chewed out by him. But the fear of God also works a lot when it comes to like, okay, I can't make a mistake. Now there's a whole realm of sports psychology we could dive into. We don't have enough time on today's show to be able to do that. But I agree. I think that is one way that Sean can improve as a coach here in 2025 to give the Broncos a best chance. Trust your personnel. Trust your young guys. Let them take a chance on their development and take a chance on them being able to make some mistakes and having some room to grow in the same exact breath there. That's why I especially at the Broncos. If they go with a rookie running back at round number one, you got to let that guy go through the gamut of welcome to the NFL. You may struggle for the first couple weeks. The same trust that he had, the same patience he had in the first two weeks.

when Bo Nicks struggled to open up his NFL career. Have that with other positions and players on your roster. Braco's country, I want to know your thoughts here on Peyton and obviously the personnel management we've seen from him in the last couple of seasons. Your thoughts on that, but we're not done just yet. We're going to tell you why Sean Payton's play calling can improve here in 2025. We'll break all that down and much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Nissan.

and the Armada player of the week is brought to you by our friends at Nissan and the all new 2025 Nissan Armada. And each week we're taking a look at our draft prospects to pick one guy that stands apart. And the guy we believe showcased the strength and the power needed to push the Broncos forward as we look ahead to next season. This week's Armada and clear cut player of the week is Ohio State running back, Trayvion Henderson, one of the best backs in the NFL draft this year. He's heavy duty.

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but what happens when you have to go off script? What happens when the teleprompter isn't working? We got to make sure that Sean Peyton and the Denver Broncos are able to win off script in 2025. What are they got to do to make that happen? Well, we're going to talk about that and more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. And Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for tuning in and rocking with us every single day. You know your boys, Cody and Sarah will have you covered all throughout NFL draft season here in 2025 and thereafter as the Broncos get into OTAs and all that sort of stuff. So make sure you're subscribed if you're not already.

Cody, let's talk about Sean Payton's play calling. Obviously, we saw throughout the course of last season a number of games. I think of Tampa Bay off the top of my head. I think of the Saints game. I think of the road game against the Chargers. These are just games off the top of my head where, man, the Broncos really brought it on the opening script. That was impressive stuff when they were firing on all cylinders and really working well together.

But it felt like if they weren't able to capitalize on the opening script, it sort of felt like it took them way too long to get going last season. Let's talk about that. What do you attribute that to? What needs to get corrected here in 2025? Well, I think it's a combination of things, right? You know, when you're designing your script, you're anticipating that to open up a game,

at least from an offensive play calling standpoint, you're going to get a certain look by the defense, right? They usually come out in this base look. But, you know, based on, let's say this is your second matchup and how you've played them, okay, they played us like this in the first matchup. Here's a way we anticipate they're going to come out. And we know this gives us the best, you know, from a play calling standpoint, these set of 10 to 12 plays gives us the best chance to maybe capitalize and get some momentum early on.

You know, I think a lot of that, Sean understands that. Look, Sean is a brilliant play caller, but sometimes as we've seen, you go away from some of the things that works. You know, and certainly, you know, you can't script an entire game. You can't stay on script, but you have to adapt and evolve as the flow of the game is ongoing. You know, when the defense makes an adjustment on the next drive, when you come out in a certain formation, it's you've got to make the adjustment. What does that look like? What is your counter there? All of this stuff, it's not just like this counter comes in the course of a game.

It's like, all right, we anticipate. Like this is where I think so many people don't understand the X's and O is beyond, you know, outside of like the Madden world because it's different. But like the Broncos, they have it in their head. Sean Payton does. This is how in depth and critical he is of this. He anticipates what change the defense is going to come out to play, you know, if the Broncos are having success with one thing.

And he says, okay, if they counter us with this, we're going to counter with this. It's so in depth. I can't even begin to explain it without confusing all of our listeners. But the thing where Sean, I think, can improve the most when it comes to play calling, Sarah, if something's working, find a way to stick with it. Let's go back to that Charter's game towards the end of the season where the Broncos on Thursday night football, you win, you're automatically in the playoffs. And you don't really have to worry about your next two weeks against Cincinnati and then the Kansas City Chiefs,

really a gamut to end the season there for Denver. But the Broncos in that first half, I mean, Sarah, they came out on fire. The first half there, they ran at 13 times with Adric Estime, Blake Watson, just Javante Williams, even getting involved in the mix. Jolil McLaughlin, 13 total times for 89 yards in the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals. They opened it up by running the football well. Like they got a spark on offense with Jalil McLaughlin, not only in the first half, but in the second half. And then they went away from it. Remember Sean Payton had the play call sheet against the chargers and it was laminated and then broadcast cameras and, you know, thankfully Amazon 4K, whatever they have.

Zoomed all the way in and it said run it. Sometimes Sean goes away from that. The Broncos, they had an 11 point lead in the third quarter. I mentioned the numbers to you at halftime. Okay, 13 carries, 89 yards, one touchdown. You had a two score lead. The Broncos in that game, they finished with 21 total carries. for 110 yards despite having an 11-point lead in the third course.

So they went away from some of the things that were working, and then it bit them in the rear end. Same exact thing happened against the Cincinnati Bengals in that game where they were running the ball well with Jolulu McLaughlin. And then they decided to get a little pass happy. You missed a couple of things. You know, you have some missed third down conversions, and all of a sudden it's,

we just don't have enough to keep up with Joe Burrow in the Cincinnati Bengals. That's where the Broncos got hurt by play calling last year, but also, like, it's not just play calling. it's a combination of play calling plus player execution. Those things go hand in hand here, but often at times coaches can put players in a better position by understanding like, hey, like we have a strength here.

We're running the ball well. Let's continue to exploit that. Let's continue to attack that versus, all right, hey, we got the run game working. Let's open it up now in the passing game. There's ways in which you can find balance, but at times it hurt the Broncos in some of those games that you mentioned. Yeah, I wonder to how much of it had to do with situational,

football and kind of their reliance on analytics. We know that the Broncos have been pretty big on analytics. And they were 13th in the NFL last year in third down conversion rate. But I also believe, Cody, that the Broncos were among the league leaders in three and outs. I can't remember where I had just seen that statistic. Offensively last season, they ranked 25th in the NFL in average time per drive, 27th in the NFL in average plays per drive, and 23rd in average yards per drive.

So it would make sense that while they were an upper half team in terms of third down conversions, that they also were among the league leaders in three and outs. And so I wonder how much of their propensity for three and outs drove the decision making in terms of play calling, the flow of game management, things like that. I'm sure it weighed heavily on it because they probably felt like, man, we have to get ahead of the sticks right away with whatever we feel is our bread and butter. I don't know. I guess I think over the course of a season, they were a young offensive unit trying to develop that identity, which I think we can all understand.

We can all resonate with. We were all prepared for the growing pains of the offense last year. Nobody expected the Broncos to be a top 10 offense last year like they ended up being. So the fact of the matter is they were able to still get the results. But at the same time, like you mentioned, there was a really frustrating tension in big games, especially down the stretch where you cannot have those lapses in, hey, everybody on, it's easy for us all to sit on Twitter or to sit on a podcast and say, all right, time to step on the throat, time to really, you know, take the, take the bowl by the horns, time to push the pedal to the metal.

It's easy to say those sorts of things. I don't know why it's not easy to do all the time for NFL coaches. Like, are we trying to pump up statistics? Are we trying to prove, you know, certain things? I have no idea. I'm not going to put any words in anybody's mouth. I just think it's frustrating when you watch these things unfold. When you have something going, you have something going with Audric Estimate.

All of a sudden, where's Audric Estimate? That was one of the things I hated the most, Cody, is when we had post-game shows after a loss. And we're like, why did they not stick with this? It could have been X, Y, or Z. It could have been going to Cortland Sutton more, handing the ball off to estimate more, figuring out ways to get the short passing game going. I mean, whatever it may be, it's frustrating to look back in hindsight and wish that you had done more of something. And that's where I feel like Sean Payton could potentially improve the most in 2025.

And part of me also knows this is a collaborative effort too. You know, Sean is, John's an instinctual coach. And look, when you're calling plays on the sideline, I've done it. It's a lot more difficult than I feel like when you're calling plays up in the booth. You know, for Sean, he's relying so much on guys like Joe Lombardi up in the booth there. Pete Carmichael. I can't recall if Pete's on the field or on the sideline, but when you have those guys up there that are communicating to you, like, hey, this defense is coming out in this front or they're coming out in this coverage.

This is the personnel that they have. You have to rely so much on the guys up above because from the field, you can see certain things, but you can't get the clear picture. So he relies so much on the guys up in the box to confirm what he's seeing or to give him information he may not necessarily have a viewpoint on. And that's going to influence your play you know, you play calling there. But also it goes back to what we talked about in the first segment. Play calling tying into having trust in your personnel is also another thing that impacts that as well.

So is Sean going to be in a position where this roster in his third season is fully intertwined with what he's got going on there? I think that's a big dynamic that we'll obviously discuss here. And obviously, Broncos country coming up next. We're going to talk about Peyton's management as the head coach of the team. How has he gotten the players to buy in? Well, it isn't even. Easy, and we'll tell you why, here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.

There's a method to the madness when it comes to Sean Payton and how he coaches, how he leads as a head coach as a play caller, and how he coaches his coaches. It has transformed the Denver Broncos locker room since he has taken over in the two years he's been there. Now, as the team prepares for his third season, Manning the team, what does that look like and how can it get better? or is there even an area where he can continue to improve the team culture? We'll dive deep to that here on today's episode of the show here. Real quick, I want to say thanks to the everydayers and first listeners out there in Broncos country.

We appreciate you so much for tuning in here. Sarah, I wanted to talk about Sean's management as a head coach. You know how hard it is to come in. And I think, you know, a handful of coaches can do this. Guys who are great leaders, Sean Payton being one of them. Look at what Dan Quinn was able to do more recently in Washington. and there's a kind of little bit of a trend there new ownership you know stability in that fraction there like they have an ownership that was willing to invest fully in dan quinnon and obviously in

Washington there's that stability you find a young quarterback Sean Peyton's got that he got his quarterback he's got good ownership in place and now of a sudden it's like now we can breathe we can we can see the force through the trees here because we have our biggest problem solved the thing with Sean as a head coach I don't think gets talked about enough you know I mentioned earlier. A lot of people on the outside who aren't fond of Sean Payton, they don't like his, that he comes across his brash sometimes. But Sean has earned the right to be a little cocky. Like he's accomplished a lot. He rules with an iron fist. And certainly, it's not easy to play for Sean Payton. It's not easy to coach alongside Sean Payton. But there's a reward in it. And I think

we're seeing that kind of play out here with how the team has drastically improved and the culture. that right there is where I think the difference is. There is complete buy-in from the locker room and players. And the first training camp, Sean came in. You know, it kind of built this callousness. And they're like, it's tough. Like, this is one of the hardest training camps we've ever been from players that I spoke to. But then at the end of the season, they're like, now we know, we see why.

We understand why. Like, you've got to go through the pain in the process to be able to understand it when the results show that. And that's exactly what Sean Payton has done here with the Broncos. One of the things that I abide by every day, Cody, and as a leader in any area, I mean, without vision, people perish. I think that that's very true in all areas of life. And Sean Payton is one of the best that I've seen in terms of carrying out a vision or making the vision so clear to the people who work for him and with him that people are willing to do what it takes to go where he wants to take them. Like when he says after a playoff loss to the press, like we need to find a way to. to host these games going forward.

And he's thinking that during the game, like he's thinking during that loss to the Buffalo Bills, man, we've got to, we've got to start playing playoff games at home. That type of vision for your team is going to, it's going to trickle down through everybody in the organization. That if the head coach believes we're going to host playoff games or that's

where we're going, then everybody else is going to say, all right, I'll do whatever it takes to achieve that vision. Because if you're just sitting there saying, hey, we want to, you know, we want to maybe win the ASE West. And I know that nobody's saying that. Obviously, everybody in the NFL wants to go win the Super Bowl.

But when you put stuff before players and coaches and you give them clear vision and you give them clear roles to attaining that vision, man, they're going to do those little things. Even if they, even if they, you know, have to kick and scream towards doing it, right? It's just like anything that you do, disciplining yourself in the gym, saving money to go on a big trip, whatever it may be, you have to have that vision before you. so that you're willing to make those sacrifices in the interim. I can't have a Starbucks today. I'm going on a big trip here in three months.

It's tough to wait for the big trip in three months when you want the Starbucks now. But that's where I think more and more players and coaches, it's not just falling in line with what Sean Payton wants. It's really buying into a clear vision and saying, all right, yeah, I'll make the sacrifices to make that happen. That's one of the things I think is what makes him one of the best coaches in the NFL. Well, inside the team auditory and throughout the season, look, every week, they have meetings. You know, obviously you have team meetings, player meetings, positional meetings.

In the team meeting, Sean does a really good job, I think, of finding ways to motivate the players, you know, in a sense, like when you're going through a grueling season, you have to find ways to continue to motivate guys. And, of course, they're going to be guys that have their own internal and external factors for motivation. But when it comes to the whole, the wholeness of a 53-man roster, what is our message, right? And what was really the playoff theme? It was the climb, the climb, right? I don't know if it was the climb back or the climb in general, hashtag that. That's what they went with. But it was like, hey, like, in order to get where we want to go.

And if you've been to the Bronco Stadium, you see in the fourth quarter, you know, when they're getting ready for the fourth quarter action right there, they have a thing where, you know, it's like a motivational video that plays on the JumboTron there. And it shows them climbing up the mountain. Like, that's the figurative thing that they do. And realistically, it translates into so many different areas of your own personal life. But when it comes to being in football, it's like the perfect analogy. Like you start the season at base camp, right?

And you know it's like, hey, it's going to be a climb. It's not going to be easy. There's going to be obstacles. There's going to be fatigue. There's going to be all these different factors that impacted. Sean does a great job of bringing that realness and being able to relate that to where the players are at. That's where a handful of guys that I've talked to.

There's a method to the madness when it comes to. is Sean Payton. So now let's get into it. Obviously, when it comes to coaching his coaches, I think that there is a perception that rubs some Broncos fans wrong. And you certainly see it. Like there was the Buffalo game where you see a video of him talking to Vance Joseph. And it looks like an animated conversation. I think that's a little bit of an overreach for a lot of people. If you've ever coached, if you've ever played, any sport, it doesn't matter if it's football, whatever it may be. There's tension sometimes. It's a battle. It's the heat of the moment. Emotions are always running high. Whether there be players and coaches,

coaches and coaches, that happens. The camera just so happened to catch it. I've seen that so many times with Sean. I've seen it with other coaches. I've been on coaching staffs where I've had a head coach. Do that to me. I've done that to other coaches. That to me is a big nothing burger. Now, I would say the only time it can become an issue is if it's leading to a fracture in your locker room, right? Like, for example, one thing you could see, like if that happened, like, If that interaction is caught there from Sean and Vance Joseph and all of a sudden defensive players like, nah, we're not doing this. Like we're sticking with Vance. Like we're siding with Vance, you know, from that perception-wise, that's where I think there would be a little worried.

Like that was the case, you know, a few years ago, you know, in 2017 where it was the offense versus the defense in Denver. That divide in the locker room was very present and very evident. That's not the case here. Peyton, like I said, coaches his coach is hard. We've seen a lot of coaches get promotions. And I think because of some of those interactions, we've seen that narrative to up. Oh, people are jumping ship.

People aren't jumping ship to get away from Sean Payton. They're getting promotions. They're getting elevated because of the Sean Peyton tree. But on top of that, you're seeing people come to Denver because they want to play for Sean Payton, because they want to coach with Sean Payton. Yeah, 100% including potentially one of his former players who just recently retired from the Miami Dolphins after playing nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints, to Ron Armstead. He retires from football, immediately gets a call from Sean Payton to come

join the staff. He's like, I don't even know what he wants me to do yet, but I guess we'll see what happens there. So yeah, it's one of those things to where everybody wants to blow things of because they don't like Sean Payton personally, right? People have axes to grind. I just feel like it's kind of the natural course of, hey, when you're in the heat of the moment in the NFL and it's something that he commonly does but he's also you know going to go up on the podium and talk seeing vance joseph's praises right i mean he did that he stuck with vance through the 72 to whatever the heck it was you know so um or 70 to whatever it was i'm not trying to give the dolphins any more than 70 they didn't score any more than 70 they only got 70 um so i mean

he stuck with him through that i think that you know those types of things speak volumes but nobody wants to talk about that nobody wants to say hey sean stuck with Vance through 70 to 20. They want to talk about the fact that he yelled at him during the playoffs or, you know, something stupid like that. So I completely think that the concerns over his demeanor are overblown. And I personally believe that, you know, people want to work with him and for him because he makes them better.

And he's going to be able to point things out in the way that you go about your business, that even if, even if you only take the nuggets of truth through criticism, That's the thing about criticism, right? When we read comments on the podcast or we get, you know, tweeted out and things like that, I think you always look at criticism. You try to find the nugget of truth. Even if that's all that these coaches are doing with working for Sean Payton,

they're going to be able to find something that will make them better as professionals. And I just totally believe, Cody, that people want to be around him and that people, I mean, ultimately would say they enjoy what he did for them to help them. advance in their professional careers. And like I said, it's not easy to play for Sean. It's not easy to coach. And look, it's not easy being a media member when it comes to, like, interacting with Sean Payton because there are certain things you know going into it.

You're not going to get. But yet people ask some, I would say sometimes it's not just in Denver, but here in Denver, sometimes people ask some silly questions to Sean. And Sean gives them a silly response in a sense to that. But the one thing I've learned and worked with Sean, Sean's been great to me. But like if you call it from an objective standpoint, Sean doesn't hide from the fact that you can be critical, right? And there's times I've been critical of Sean. I thought I was very critical of Sean with how he handled the whole Russell Wilson thing.

But Sean is very much like I understand. Like he understands our jobs. But at the same exact time, we are not punished in any way, shape, or form speaking out against the Broncos. That's one thing I always want to make clear. There's a myth out there that we have to sing praises and we can't be critical. No, I think that there's a difference between being critical and also being objective and fair. Some people make their analysis personal. And I think that's where Sean sometimes has a little bit of an axe to grind with certain things.

But the reality is, is we, if you ask Sean a good question, like Sean's going to answer. Sean's been able to answer some really good questions, both on the record, off the record here. And there's some things obviously we can't share necessarily with that. But there's a process there. I would say things are going to open up a little bit more. especially as this team starts to have some more success, you're going to see a little bit of a different side to Sean, whereas I think when he came in,

it's, hey, things have been a certain way here for some time. We got to flush that out of the system. And that's everything in terms of what we're able to see at practice, what we're able to be a part of. And there's a process there because it has led to a better team culture. And it's just trust in the process. But also like Sean welcomes us in our ability to be critical of him as well. I've had really good conversations about that off the record with him.

So like I said, the perception isn't necessarily the reality when it comes to Sean Payton on a lot of things. That's the message I'll leave here with Broncos Country. Then I'll wrap up today's episode up to show Broncos Country. We are two weeks away from the NFL draft. So on Monday, you have a chance to have your mock draft be featured here on lockdown Broncos. Send us your mock drafts conduct a five-round mock for us. Sarah Bedinger, myself, will pick the best one. And we're going to break it down and share our thoughts on your mock draft on Monday.

The mock draft episode, Lockdown Broncos. We'll see you then.