Broncos Should Steer Clear of Sean Payton
Every Denver Broncos fan has a preferred choice on who the team's next head coach should be. Going into the search, I had no issues with any of the candidates becoming the Broncos' next head coach.
I was willing to give any of them a chance.
But after the last couple of days, with the Broncos having completed their first round of interviews and what's been said since, I have already made up my mind on one candidate.
I don't want Sean Payton any longer.
It's not because I think Payton is a bad head coach (he isn't). It's not because I don't want the offense fixed (it needs fixing).
It's because the past couple of days have made it clearer that too much of what's been leaked is coming from Payton's camp — and that concerns me about what happens if he does become the Broncos head coach.
Certainly, the last three people to get the Broncos head-coaching job failed to live up to the task. However, nearly everything came down to the on-field product, in which none of Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, or Nathaniel Hackett could show any consistency in terms of fielding a competitive team.
On-field issues will always be discussed because they happen right in front of our eyes. It's understandable that things like that will get scrutinized.
However, when it comes to what happens behind the scenes, we didn't hear as much. We certainly didn't hear constant reports about how nothing was the head coach's fault or how somebody tried to get in his way.
More importantly, Joseph, Fangio, and Hackett didn't make it all about themselves when they were interviewing for the jobs and didn't do that while they held the jobs. We have heard some criticism from Fangio after he was let go, but not while he was there.
And then there's the Broncos' coaching search itself. We've heard little from Jim Harbaugh's camp about how his interview went. There have been reports about his relationship with the University of Michigan amid an NCAA violations investigation, but we haven't heard details about his interview with Greg Penner and company.
The same is true with Dan Quinn. We've only heard about which teams interviewed him and how they went, but nothing from Quinn's camp about how he was the supposed favorite. Quinn did his interviews, then decided to stay with the Cowboys and informed the teams of his decision. That was it.
But when it comes to Payton, we hear this stuff all the time about how the Broncos are the front-runner, how Russell Wilson wants him, how he was supposed to get the second interview when Denver hadn't even finished all of their first interviews, and on and on it went.
If you actually look at what's getting reported, it's hard to pinpoint most of these reports coming from the Broncos camp. For those that could be, you learn about how the interview went overall, but you aren't diving deeper into details.
Therefore, the only way to explain most of these things that have been leaked about Payton's status with the Broncos is that they come from his camp. And for some of the people reporting these things, at least one, if not more, are people who are close to Payton themselves.
And if this is how things are going to go down with Payton during the head-coaching search, how can anyone with the Broncos ownership group trust this won't continue if he's given the job?
How can they trust that Payton will suddenly stop talking to those close to him to give them every detail about what goes down with the Broncos? In particular, how can they trust him not to do that if things don't go as well as expected?
I think Eric Goodman of Mile High Sports said it best about Payton and the head coaching search.
I've seen enough issues with the on-field product that I don't want to have off-field drama on top of that, in which leaks come out of the Broncos that basically declare the head coach isn't getting a fair shake because of one person or another in the organization.
A head coach isn't responsible for everything on a team, but he needs to take responsibility for much of it. If a head coach is leaking a bunch of stuff to make it appear something is not his fault, even if there may be some truth to it, that's not a good look.
I understand that Broncos fans want to win. But when it comes to Payton, the drama that's followed him, and the leaks that can most likely be attributed to his camp, I have just four words about hiring him: It's not worth it.
Consider me officially off the Payton bandwagon. I'm open to the other candidates who are still in the running, but as for Payton, I'm out.
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