Sean Payton indicates lofty asking price for someone at the NFL trade deadline

The Denver Broncos did not bring in a player at the 2024 NFL Trade Deadline, and Sean Payton may have indirectly told us why. Many of us expected the Broncos to bring in a playmaker, as their group on offense is among the worst in the NFL, but this team is clearly trending toward their own guys and surely want to develop them.

However, the Broncos playmakers have continually failed rookie QB Bo Nix, and nothing was more indicative of that than when wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey could not haul in a perfectly-thrown short pass from Bo Nix. It bounced off of his hands and right into the hands of a Ravens defender.

The team desperately needs some playmaking help, and it's almost guaranteed that Denver undertakes this endeavor next offseason, but Sean Payton did seem to indicate why the team didn' make a move:

"“I like this group and then it’s just a matter of who’s… We weren’t considering giving up a second-[round draft pick],” Payton said. “Or, in other words, I think a lot of it is ‘who’ [is available]. The NFL train, I talk about it all the time. We don’t know who’s driving it yet, but we listen to it, that’s fine. When you really look at it closely. The phone rings, we pick up and yet we have to look at it in the eyes of what’s best for our team.

“We didn’t feel like… I don’t think we even got close to discussing someone seriously. Some teams will have a player that’s available — well that’s different — they’re available in their price range. But hey. We’re focused on this team.”"

A second-round pick? When teams are wanting to trade a player, they always start the asking price a bit higher than usual, as they want to net the highest draft pick. Some teams may be asking for too high of a price that no team is going to meet, and the Broncos apparently being asked for a second-round pick for a player is odd.

I mean, who would it have been? There was nothing to indicate that the Cincinnati Bengals would have traded WR Tee Higgins. He was probably the biggest name that was sometimes floated around in trade talks. Browns TE David Njoku also saw his name pop up, but he's not worth a second-round pick.

It may have been a scenario where the Broncos had a clear line in the sand that they would not have crossed. Unless it was some borderline elite or elite player, a second-round pick would have definitely been a massive overpay for the players who could have been dealt at the deadline. It's probably a great thing that Denver didn't make a move like that.

Heading into the 2025 NFL Offseason, the Broncos will not only have their own first and second-round picks, but they'll also likely have more than $60 million in cap space, and with a giant free agent class expected, the Broncos are surely going to be aggressive next offseason and build around Bo Nix the right way.

There aren't typically major trade deadline moves, so at the end of the day, it's probably not all that surprising that the Denver Broncos did not bring someone in. For us fans and analysts who watch the games, that truth is a bit frustrating to accept, though.