Denver Broncos

The Broncos, at last, got their man, finalizing a trade with New Orleans to make former Saints head coach Sean Payton their next head coach, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Post on Tuesday.

Denver is sending New Orleans its first-round pick this spring (No. 29 overall), and a 2024 second-round pick for Payton and New Orleans’ 2024 third-rounder, the sources confirmed.

In order to negotiate a contract with Payton, who was under contract with the Saints through 2024, Denver first had to agree to trade terms with the Saints. Now that the compensation for New Orleans has been worked out, the Broncos can set about negotiating terms of a contract with Payton, who interviewed with Broncos CEO Greg Penner, general manager George Paton and limited shareholder Condoleezza Rice in Los Angeles on Jan. 17. Payton replaces Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired Dec. 26.

The Broncos did not conduct a formal second interview with Payton, but sources said each side kept in touch throughout the process as Payton visited Carolina and Arizona for interviews and Denver worked through other options, including San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans.

“This was the opportunity I was looking for,” Payton told the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Tuesday, adding, “It’s a great fanbase and great tradition. The ownership group is fantastic, and I love the way they competed in some of their games last year.”

Penner and the Broncos considered Ryans one of their top candidates through the middle part of last week but also conducted a covert, in-person meeting with Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Late last week it appeared Ryans was likely to accept the head coaching job in Houston, which he did Tuesday.

Payton met via Zoom with the top trio of the Broncos’ ownership group — Penner, Carrie Walton-Penner and Rob Walton — this past weekend, according to a source. Paton, Penner and the Broncos were working with New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis to ensure Payton would become the Broncos’ 19th full-time head coach.

Penner said Dec. 27, the day after Hackett was fired, that he and his staff planned to be aggressive in the search and that, “We think we can find a great head coach for this organization.”

Certainly, they’ve landed an accomplished coach.

Payton’s return to the sideline in 2023 will put him sixth among active coaches in wins at 153, behind only Bill Belichick (New England), Andy Reid (Kansas City), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh), Pete Carroll (Seattle) and Mike McCarthy (Dallas).

He led New Orleans to a Super Bowl championship in February 2010 and had the Saints in the playoffs nine times in his 15 seasons. Payton’s Saints won the NFC South seven times during his time there and he owns a career postseason mark of 9-8. Outside the Super Bowl season, his Saints teams lost in the NFC championship game twice, the divisional round four times and the wild card round twice.

They won the division four consecutive years from 2017-20 before going 9-8 and missing the playoffs in his final season before resigning. That deep playoff experience is part of Payton’s allure, as is his reputation as one of the game’s brightest offensive minds.

The Saints led the NFL in scoring twice under Payton and finished in the top three seven times.

Payton arrived in New Orleans in 2006, the same year the franchise traded for quarterback Drew Brees. The quarterback had already made the Pro Bowl once during his time in San Diego but blossomed into a Hall of Famer over his 15-year run with Payton in New Orleans.

Now, Payton will try to help Denver quarterback Russell Wilson find a new gear. Wilson, whom Denver acquired in March after he spent a decade in Seattle, is coming off the worst season of his career. He also has made no secret about the fact that he holds Payton in high regard.

After the Broncos’ 2022 season finale, Wilson spoke glowingly of Payton.

“I’ve been around Sean at the Pro Bowl, been around him across the league, played against him quite a bit. He’s one of the world’s best. A guy who’s coached a Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees, who is one of my closest friends,” Wilson said. “… He’s competitive as can be. He’s a winner.”

In October, Payton provided insight into how he’d try to get Wilson on track after what at the time was a slow start to the 2022 season.

“I’d want cut-ups today of all Russell’s past plays of 30 or more yards from the field and I’d want to see if, are there some schemes that he felt very comfortable with,” Payton said.

Payton had his share of controversy in New Orleans. He was suspended for the entire 2012 season for his role in the Bountygate scandal when the Saints defensive coaching staff was discovered to have paid players for knocking opposing players out of games. The Miami Dolphins were also fined and stripped of draft picks last year for tampering with Payton without the Saints’ consent.

That hardly cooled interest in the San Mateo, California, native once he decided he wanted to explore a return to coaching. Payton could have returned to the FOX studio and continued doing television for another year, waiting to see which jobs opened after the 2023 NFL season.

Instead, the Broncos swooped in and are on the verge of ensuring he lands in the Front Range.

From Peyton to Paton to Payton

It’s been a long road to nowhere since the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 in Peyton Manning’s final season in orange and blue. Now a different Payton is coming to town — after another Paton took over as general manager in 2021 — looking to end a seven-season playoff drought. Here’s a look at what’s transpired since that last Super Bowl run in 2015:

Coach Years Record Gary Kubiak 2016 9-7 Note: After leading Broncos to Super Bowl, Kubiak and second-year QB Trevor Siemian started 6-2, but end-of-season fade led to Kubiak’s surprise retirement. Vance Joseph 2017-18 11-21 Note: Joseph’s back-to-back double-digit loss seasons — first with Siemian as ’17 starting QB, then Case Keenum in ’18 — also kicked off team’s QB carousel. Vic Fangio 2019-21 19-30 Note: Longtime D-coordinator couldn’t solve Broncos’ offensive woes as team cycled through three Week 1 QB1s: Joe Flacco, Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater. Nathaniel Hackett 2022 4-11 Note: Last of three first-time head coaches, the up-and-coming offensive coordinator got a superstar QB (Russell Wilson), then produced the NFL’s worst offense. Jerry Rosburg 2022 1-1 Note: Journeyman assistant — hired to fix Hackett’s game management issues in Week 3 — righted ship as interim after Christmas Day debacle at L.A. Rams.

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Parker joined The Denver Post in September 2022 after covering the Broncos for USA Today. Before that, he spent five years covering Nebraska football and athletics for the Lincoln Journal Star. He’s a New Glarus, Wisconsin, native and University of Wisconsin graduate.