Sean Payton is the Marlboro Man. He wants all the smoke.
After nearly a decade of wandering clumsily through the NFL wilderness, the Broncos feature stability, alignment, direction and bravado.
Payton brings swagger. He makes players believe. He manages expectations. He doesn’t minimize them (he called out the Chiefs in his season-ending press conference). That point was further driven home this week when the NFL released the 2025 schedule.
If you want to win a ring, you have to learn to play in big games. The Broncos will be featured in four prime-time events and a standalone game in London.
The Broncos, through planting stories with sources, could have whined about not having a bye after London, always the preference, especially for a team west of the Mississippi River. Instead, they crunched the numbers, which revealed that teams are 12-5 without one. They could have groused about their late week off in November and returning to play at Washington, also coming off an idle week.
Nope. Not when the tilt is on “Sunday Night Football.”
This is why the Broncos have a legitimate shot at ending the Kansas City Chiefs’ nine-year run of division titles, the second-longest streak (behind the Patriots) since the 1970 NFL merger. The Broncos are not running from their goals. They are embracing them.
When was the last time a Broncos quarterback, in this case Bo Nix, started a second straight season with the same coach, offensive coordinator and GM? Payton provides creative friction. George Paton, officially dug out of his Russell Wilson hole, has settled into a defined role. Everyone is in the right spot. But no one is comfortable. That is how a team takes the next step from regaining relevance to competing for championships.
Rockie reset: Owner Dick Monfort firing Bud Black was a necessary first step. Black was not the reason the Rockies were losing, but he no longer profiled for the position. General manager Bill Schmidt never fit the job description. He shouldn’t have been a candidate when he was promoted, and he will never be a GM again after he is canned. And that is the next step needed. But it cannot stop there.
The Rockies must bring in executives from the Dodgers or Rays and allow them to completely restructure the front office and scouting department. Monfort does not want external voices to tell him what to do. But as Colorado stalks history as the worst team of all time, there are only two ways out of his mess: 1) Extract all the “yes” people from the building — that includes president Greg Feasel — and replace them with the brightest minds; or 2) Sell the team after the inevitable labor stoppage following the 2026 season fails to produce a salary cap.
Hockey circles: David Carle leveraged interest from the Anaheim Ducks into a well-earned contract extension at DU. It will be interesting to see if the Avs made the right choice to keep Jared Bednar rather than pursue Carle as a fresh voice in the room. Among pro coaches in Colorado, Bednar is the longest-tenured, followed by Sean Payton. But with Michael Malone and Bud Black as proof, it would behoove Bednar to get off to a solid start next season to cement his status.
Final thought: One of the things that makes the Nuggets so charming: Even in a season of dysfunction, they find a way to be at their best when their best is required.
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Originally Published: May 16, 2025 at 5:14 PM MDT
