4 completely lame arguments why Sean Payton was a bad hire for Broncos
4. He quit on his team, and Bountygate
To be clear, I’m not advocating targeting players or condoning that kind of behind-the-scenes stuff for anyone. I did find a segment of Pro Football Talk interesting as they were discussing the Sean Payton hire and all things regarding Payton’s history, his fit with the Broncos, and more.
In this clip, PFT’s Mike Florio talks about the fact that, at the time of “Bountygate”, the NFL was coming under a ton of fire from former players who were suing the league for the concussions they suffered while playing, and that the whole “Bountygate” thing was completely overblown as a way for the league to draw attention away from itself and paint itself in a better light given the lawsuits that were coming in.
It’s at least interesting to consider and you can hear more from Florio in that clip up above. It’s worth listening to the whole segment, because they also discuss the notion that Payton is just a clone of Mike McCarthy.
The other idea here is that Sean Payton quit on the Saints, which may have validity to Saints fans but has no relevance in Denver. Payton spent 16 years with the Saints. How many of us have spent 16 years with one organization?
Furthermore, how does Payton allegedly “quitting” on the Saints affect the Broncos at present? Should we expect him to quit on the organization after 16 years? This issue simply has no relevance right now given the circumstances that were going on with the Saints at the time.
It’s interesting that people think the QB position has anything to do with Payton quitting when the team was on Russell Wilson’s preferred trade destinations list for the 2022 offseason. Could Payton not have stuck around and traded for Wilson? The team was allegedly in “salary cap hell” and managed to go from $70+ million in the red to $30+ million in the green.
Things aren’t great with the Saints at present moment, and perhaps Payton saw that writing on the wall, but it’s hard to blame him for wanting a year off after the 16 years he spent with that franchise.
Essentially, this particular gripe with Payton has no relevance regarding his present situation with the Denver Broncos.