Sean Payton gives interesting update on Broncos and NFL trade deadline

After some of his fiery comments following the Broncos' 28-14 win over the Carolina Panthers last week, I think many people rushed to the conclusion that Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton was going to want to be aggressive in adding players at the NFL trade deadline. Well, when you say things like, "...or we'll find new receivers," it's hard not to assume that or rush to those conclusions.

With that being said, Sean Payton has always been aggressive when it comes to adding players he thinks can help his roster, and with the 2024 NFL trade deadline looming (Tuesday, November 5), everybody is interested to see what the Broncos do, if anything.

Broncos HC Sean Payton gives interesting NFL trade deadline update

Payton was asked on Wednesday about the possibility of making trades from positions with depth on his roster, and he gave an interesting response that is worth potentially reading into a little bit...

"There’s so much attention obviously that gets focused around the trade deadline. I think any [general manager]—everyone’s picking the phone up. There are discussions and yet any decision or move that a team would make—not just us—would be with the best interest of the team that’s making the deal, acquiring or trading. I’ve said this before, [General Manager] George [Paton] will come into my office three times a day, and twice we might talk about something else and then once… Or I’ll be down in his office talking. It’s that time of the year where you can get an early feel of some… Remember there’s a trade, and then there’s the contract involved in the trade which is the devil in the details with any player. Our focus is on this football team right here.”

-- Broncos HC Sean Payton (via team PR)

First of all, it's interesting to see Payton acknowledge that there are, in fact, trade discussions happening as we speak. Now, discussions are what they are. They don't mean there's any deal imminent and frankly, we may never find out about most of them. But the Broncos are picking up the phone and I wouldn't be shocked if they have some potential deals in the works.

Why?

Well, it's interesting to me that Payton made note about the contract involved in the trade. What would prompt him to bring that up? He was asked about trading from a position of depth and he went into some detail which could give us clues about what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe that's a tinfoil hat kind of hypothesis here, but it's interesting that he would say that, nonetheless.

The Broncos have a full 53-man roster for the moment and a number of players eligible to come off of injured reserve (or the NFI lis) in the near future (safety Delarrin Turner-Yell, running back Tyler Badie, linebacker Drew Sanders). With that in mind, along with the team's obvious need to acquire playmakers, it could be that the Broncos are deeper in negotiations than anyone realizes right now.

The NFL trade deadline often comes and goes without much action, but we've already seen a number of prominent players on the move this year and the Broncos have stayed out of it. Will we see them pull anything off before Tuesday afternoon?