Ranking Denver Broncos last 10 biggest trades worst to best

1. Trading for HC Sean Payton

Broncos receive:

• HC Sean Payton
• 2024 3rd-round pick

Saints receive:

• 2023 1st-round pick (29th overall)
• 2024 2nd-round pick

This is a trade that certainly has drawn mixed reviews from the Denver Broncos fan base. On one hand, you have a lot of people who loathe the idea of trading first-round picks in general, but especially for a head coach. On the other hand, you look at some of the more notable trades involving head coaches throughout NFL history (and there haven't been many) and you see how crucial they can be.

Notable NFL head coaches to be traded:

• Mike Holmgren, 1999 (Packers to Seahawks)
• Bill Belichick, 2000 (Jets to Patriots)
• Jon Gruden, 2002 (Raiders to Buccaneers)
• Bruce Arians, 2019 (Cardinals to Buccaneers)

Those are not the only head coach trades to go down in the last 20 years, but it's significant that four head coach trades have resulted in teams winning (or at least appearing in) Super Bowls, is it not?

To me, there is really no single person more important to a team than the head coach, other than perhaps the quarterback. And if you don't have one or the other, you're probably not going to be any good. For the Broncos to be able to land a head coach like Sean Payton, a legendary coach in modern NFL history who will likely be in the Hall of Fame one day?

That's a no-brainer type of trade to make. Even though we don't know how this will turn out, I think this was a very worthwhile trade for the Broncos and is the best trade they've made in recent memory.