Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has established himself as a quarterback guru. While with the New Orleans Saints, he molded Drew Brees into a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback.
With the Broncos drafting Bo Nix, he landed in a pretty favorable situation coach-wise. Payton will attempt to work his magic and ideally mold Nix into something Broncos fans have fan been dying to see for years: a franchise quarterback.
Working with Payton isn’t exactly a walk in the park, though. In fact, Payton is considered to be one of the final few ‘old school’ coaches left in the league.
Former NFL QB Drew Brees gives Bo Nix advice on dealing with Sean Payton
Brees, who retired in 2021, spent 15 seasons with Payton in New Orleans. Needless to say, Brees is very familiar with Payton’s coaching style. In a recent interview with Colin Cowherd, Brees acknowledged Payton’s ‘demanding’ style of coaching, and gave Nix a piece of advice.
“Be just as demanding right back to him,” said Brees. “Sean likes that. He wants to see you confident and sure.”
In the 15 seasons Brees and Payton were together, they became very familiar with one another. Very rarely would their minds be on different pages during games.
“Sean and I got to a place with our relationship where it was almost like we could finish each other’s sentences. I knew exactly what he was thinking before he called the play,” said Brees. “We just rehearsed it so much, we talked about it so much throughout the course of the week that I knew the minute we crossed the 50-yard line, that this was the play call coming out of his mouth. The minute we’re inside the red zone, this is the play we’re running.”
“The minute they go to this defense or that pressure, he wants this. It’s stuff that we’ve talked about and rehearsed together. A night before a game, we’re dotting a call sheet, ‘Here’s my favorite play, Sean.’ He’s telling me his favorite plays. We’re rehearsing it over and over so we can be kind of one mind out there together.”
During the first two weeks of the regular season, Nix struggled on the field. He would throw four interceptions and no touchdowns. Payton gave Nix some constructive criticism and coached him on his mistakes. But Brees encourages Nix to stand his ground with Payton and his tougher coaching style.
“Of course, there were moments where, ‘Man I’m going to make a mistake.’ But we got to the point where he knew that I knew I made a mistake, so he doesn’t need to be yelling and screaming at me,” said Brees. “For a young quarterback he’s trying to teach, coach and kind of get on the same page with, there’s probably going to be a lot more of that and he’ll be pretty firm with you at times.”