It's pretty clear that a good way for the Denver Broncos to fix their franchise is to actively root against Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints. Let me explain. As we know, the Denver Broncos are a bad football team this year. Most of that bad comes from the defensive side of the ball, where Denver fields the worst unit in football.
They were able to keep the Kansas City Chiefs offense at bay in Week 6, but the unit has largely underperformed every single week this year. It's been a bad drop-off from when Ejiro Evero had this unit playing excellent football for the majority of the 2022 NFL season. When Sean Payton joined the team, there was a ton of hope that he could even coach this Broncos team to success in year one.
We have seen the offense largely play better. The offense did not have a great outing against the Chiefs, but the unit has objectively been better than it was in 2022. That's simply a fact, and sure, you can still have questions about the offense and Russell Wilson, but what can't be disputed is the improvement from last year.
A hugely important decision that Sean Payton had to make was to hire a new defensive coordinator when Ejiro Evero bounced for the Carolina Panthers. Payton decided to hire Vance Joseph, a veteran defensive mind who obviously coached the Broncos from 2017-2018. The hiring of Joseph made sense; he had been a HC before and had years of DC experience. It wasn't a bad hire by any means.
Well, it turned into a bad hire, and barring a historic turnaround, Joseph will not be back in Denver in 2024. There is one specific defensive mind that may be Payton's #1 choice to replace Joseph next year, and he currently is the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Dennis Allen is someone who could be a perfect defensive coordinator in Denver in 2024 and beyond if he was relieved of his duties at HC with the Saints.
Payton hired Allen back in 2015, and ever since then, Allen's defense scheme has been present in New Orleans. When Allen took over this unit, they ranked 32nd in points in 2015, and 31st in points in 2016. His first two years were a bit shaky, but man, check out this turnaround:
From 2017 on, the Saints ranked 10th, 14th, 13th, 5th, 4th, 9th, 6th. Very quietly, Allen turned this Saints defense from the worst unit in the NFL in 2015 and 2016, into a perennial top-10 unit from 2020 until the present. Even if the Denver Broncos had the 14th-ranked defense this year, they'd surely have at least three wins under their belt.
Dennis Allen has evidence of success as a defensive mind and doing so while working with Sean Payton. Fortunately, he's not a very good head coach. He took over for the Saints in 2022 and led them to a 7-10 record. In 2023, the Saints are 3-3. They began the season 2-0 and have lost three of their last four games. Offensively, the Saints have struggled with Allen as the head coach.
And guess what, the Denver Broncos are in good hands on offense with Sean Payton. If Allen got fired at the end of this year, I would assume that Sean Payton would jump at the chance to hire Dennis Allen back as his DC. During the 2015-2021 seasons, when Payton and Allen were working together, the Saints went 72-41 in the regular season, which is a .637 winning percentage.
Those two enjoyed a ton of success together, and you should be rooting for Dennis Allen to not make it to 2024 as head coach of the Saints, because Payton would be able to hire him as the Denver Broncos next DC.