Sean Payton and Bill Belichick in Denver with the Broncos?
According to Payton, it almost happened.
But is the Broncos head coach just spinning a yarn?
Sean Payton and Bill Belichick in Denver coaching the Broncos together?
Seth Wickersham is one of the best in the business at getting to he heart of what Sean Payton does, thinks, and knows.
Last year, Wickersham’s book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback explained why Payton drafted Bo Nix. While it may have been well-known in front offices, it seemed to be new information pertaining to how coaches and team decision-makers draft quarterbacks.
For Payton, he developed a formula to help him evaluate QBs. And Nix was outstanding.
From Wickersham’s book:
Payton came up with a formula: He looked at the rate of negative plays against Mahomes’s total drop backs: percentage of sacks, fumbles, interceptions, then added them together for the average. (He also liked to see a quarterback’s completion percentage, although it wasn’t factored into the algorithm.) Like golf, a low score was best.
Last year, we saw how that formula paid off in a huge way.
Nix was the NFL quarterback with the lowest negative play rate. That was a huge part of the formula. QBs who don’t take sacks or turn the ball over help teams win games. Even if they aren’t making jaw-dropping plays every down, sometimes managing a game is exactly what a team needs.
And after dropping that bit of fascinating information last summer, now Wikersham is back with the Payton-Belichick news.
According to the Denver Broncos coach, he almost hired Bill Belichick in 2024 and stepped aside as an assistant coach to help Belichick reach the new career-high for wins and pass Don Shula. From Wickersham’s piece that came out today on ESPN:
Payton considered presenting Broncos owner Greg Penner a proposal for the ages: Hire Belichick as head coach until he reached 15 wins, enough to break Don Shula’s career record of 347.
Payton would temporarily step down to assistant head coach and run the offense, then move back after Belichick became the all-time leader. In the end, it was too complicated — and maybe too fanciful.
Was Payton just telling a tall tale?
Wickersham alludes to it there at the end of the second sentence, “…maybe too fanciful.”
Was Sean Payton just spinning a yarn? Or did he actually, really think about bringing Belichick in to head coach the Broncos?
What would that have done to the team and morale? What would Belichick’s actual role be as “head coach” with Payton as the assistant coach?
Imagine if that happened in 2024, and then the Broncos still won like they did in 2025; if Belichick hit the 348-win mark, would he then step down and Payton be elevated back to head coach?
All of this is wild and honestly really silly.
It would certainly be unprecedented and unique. And Payton has been an innovator on the football field. He once called an onside kick to start the second half of a Super Bowl, and it worked. He’s one of the most brilliant minds in the NFL for the last two decades, continuing to show in the Mile High City that he’s still got it.
But this Belichick stuff just seems like a bridge too far.
And it was good it didn’t happen.
Wickersham’s piece details a meeting that came six days before the AFC Championship Game, in which he discussed the Divisional Round win over the Buffalo Bills with his assistant coaches. He barked at Vance Joseph for the poor defense all game outside of the five turnovers they forced.
And so much more.
The piece on ESPN is a must-read for all Broncos fans and holds many gems inside it. And what a time a to drop it, in the biggest lull of the offseason.
Denver comes back to training camp as a whole on July 28, with rookies reporting on July 22. This amazing story will tide over Broncos Country until then.