Sean Payton on his Denver Broncos, after training camp Monday, “You’re seeing that this is a place where guys want to be.”

Payton was talking specifically about signing big-named free agents this offseason, and he’s responsible for making the Mile High City a desirable destination again.

Sean Payton has made Denver Broncos an appealing team again

The Denver Broncos are back.

They made it back to the playoffs in 2024. They are expected to compete for the AFC West title this year. And players around the league are taking notice.

After making the postseason for the first time since their Super Bowl 50 victory in Feb. 2016, the Broncos enjoyed a fantastic free agency haul this offseason.

They signed Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga to the defense–two starters and former teammates in San Francisco–and then inked Evan Engram and J.K. Dobbins on the offensive side of the ball.

When he was asked about if he was excited as the free agents rolled in, Payton said Monday, “There’s a fist pump on the way home in my car. Then it’s business. So yes, part of it is the movement of the program. You’re seeing that this is a place where guys want to be.”

In fact, Dre Greenlaw picked Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos over his former San Francisco 49ers. Even when the Niners offered more money.

“They’ve had one of the best defenses for quite some time now,” Greenlaw said on Monday when asked why he picked Denver. “I know last year they really took that [up a] notch, and I just wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be where I was accepted, where I was wanted and this is the right place for me.”

Greenlaw was a missing piece in the middle of the defense which was already one of the league’s most dominant units last year. The same goes for Hufanga, who will compliment Brandon Jones at safety and fly around as an extra cover man who can lay the wood.

Offensively, the Broncos desperately needed a pass-catching tight end and they got that in Engram. And Dobbins was a cherry on top; a veteran running back with a nose for the goal line who could start, or could spell the new rookie running back R.J. Harvey.

The Broncos continue to take steps forward under their new leadership

Rewind to 2022, and Denver went 5-12 under Nathaniel Hackett. It was arguably the worst season in franchise history; the Broncos were the worst offense in the league and a complete laughing stock.

Enter, Sean Payton.

The 2023 team wasn’t one he built. It wasn’t a quarterback–Russell Wilson–he chose or wanted. And yet, Payton pushed the Broncos to the brink of a playoff berth. Or at least, he had them in the conversation for most of the second half of the season.

In October, 2024 it was clear Sean Payton was molding the Denver Broncos into a winning team. They started the year 0-2, but after bullying his former team the Saints on Thursday Night Football, the team showed they had already turned a corner. They finished the year 7-4 and made it into the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade.

All that momentum continued this offseason.

“It’s just an affirmation of, ‘We’re heading in the right direction.’” Payton continued on Monday. “Part of that’s the quarterback. Players are smart today. They want to go where, ‘Are these things in place?’ I think two years ago, I don’t know that we [would] win that battle. Does that make sense? I don’t know that we do, but we did last year.”

As I wrote last October after that blowout win on national TV, teams must make small steps toward being champions. Denver had to learn how to win, and they did just that. By winning enough to make the playoffs, they also won over some tremendous free agents.

“You’re selling a playoff team with a young aspiring quarterback,” Payton explained on how he pitched the Broncos to those veterans. “Two years ago, you’re selling a vision. I can’t tell you what the new [training facility] building’s going to look like two years ago, but I can tell you what it’s going to look like now, and it’s an easier sell when you kind of see it a little bit. It’s that simple.”

In the NFL, there are bad teams, mediocre teams, and great teams. Denver’s moved from the bottom tier to the middle in only two years under Payton. Will they make the leap to greatness? It may not be this year, but that next step seems inevitable.