Sean Payton just let his old team beat Broncos for top free agent running back

The Denver Broncos have, thus far, not gotten much of anything done in free agency, and you have to begin wondering just how aggressive, if at all, this team is going to be. When the legal tampering period opened up at 12 PM Eastern time on Monday. A ton of deals flew off the board almost immediately.

The Kansas City Chiefs got in on the fun, signing free agent running back Kenneth Walker. The deals cannot become official until Wednesday, so no player can actually sign anything until then. The Chiefs immediately added a weapon for the offense.

And Sean Payton's old team, funnily enough, just stole the other top free agent from the Broncos, as they have agreed to terms with Travis Etienne, a running back who the Broncos apparently had some interest in.

The Denver Broncos miss out on Travis Etienne to the Saints

This is, largely, a massive failure by the Broncos front office:

We have talked about Etienne too many times to keep track of, and it's being reported that the Broncos and Minnesota Vikings were also interested. Unfortunately, this again feels like a deal where the Broncos probably should have been a bit more aggressive and put this through the finish line.

You get the sense that this is an unfortunate trend with the Broncos front office - not truly being aggressive to improve the roster and almost overdoing the whole 'we like our guys' schtick. We have seen the Broncos re-sign a ton of their own players, which is fine, but sometimes, an outside addition like Etienne is necessary.

This just is not a good look for the Broncos right now, as the run game needed someone like Etienne, a back who amassed over 5,000 scrimmage yards over the past four seasons and who also had three seasons of at least 1,000 rushing yards.

Now that this signing isn't going to happen, the Broncos will have to turn their attention to other running backs, as Tyler Allgeier is also off the board. The other potential options could be J.K. Dobbins back with the team, or, perhaps, Rico Dowdle, a running back who has two 1,000-yard seasons in a row.

Overall, the Broncos clearly weren't aggressive enough for Etienne, as Payton's old team just made a huge move for their young quarterback. The Broncos, at this point, do not have a legitimate RB1 on the roster and will have to find some sort of option here in the very, very near future.