The first face-to-face meeting between new Broncos head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Russell Wilson happened, naturally, in Arizona.
The new Denver duo had dinner Thursday night along with Ciara Wilson and Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, according to Wilson’s social media.
Payton’s in Arizona doing broadcast work for FOX and plenty of interviews on Radio Row over the course of the week leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl between Kansas City and Philadelphia. He’ll return to Denver on Monday to continue his work filling out his first Broncos coaching staff and preparing for free agency and the draft.
While it would certainly be understandable if Payton and Wilson didn’t spend all of their first meal together talking turkey, soon enough they will set out on the task of figuring out how to maximize the quarterback’s abilities in 2023 and build an offense that works for everybody in Denver.
“I think the No. 1 job for us as coaches in evaluating our players is, what are the things that they do really well?” Payton said Monday at his introductory news conference. “Then, let’s try to put them in those positions. At least that’s the starting point. … Here’s what I know: I know that he’s a hard worker. I know he’s an extremely hard worker, and that’s important. You take that and you understand the skill set.
“He’s won a lot of games in Seattle. We played him quite a bit just because we were both playoff teams in the NFC at that time. Then you go from there.”
Wilson, of course, is coming off the worst season of his pro career. Payton said that, sure, “It’s easy to point out what players don’t do well.”
He’s more interested in the other side of the equation.
“I don’t like singing, period, but none of us want to be at a karaoke bar with a song we don’t know the words to,” he said. “How do we get them comfortable and highlight their strengths? That’s the process that’s going to begin right now. I’m learning about every one of these players, not just Russell.”
Those who have worked with Payton in the past think he is well-equipped to find the right recipe for Wilson and the rest of Denver’s offense, which hasn’t finished better than No. 22 in the NFL in scoring since Peyton Manning retired. The Saints finished 19th in 2021, Payton’s final season there and the franchise’s first after Drew Brees’ retirement. But before that they were never worse than 12th in his 14 other seasons as the head coach.
“There’s a difference between a guy that designs plays well and a guy that can adjust and call them well in a game,” former Saints quarterback Luke McCown said recently. “I think Sean does all of those things at the top level of play-callers in the NFL.”
Payton this past week in Arizona told the “Up & Adams” show that when a team goes 5-12, “a lot of people have dirt on their hands. Not just Russ.”
The Broncos’ fortunes under Payton are about more than the quarterback’s level of play, but that doesn’t change Wilson’s importance going forward.
“I’m anxious to work with him,” Payton said. “When you coach a guy at a Pro Bowl — you guys have to be at a Pro Bowl practice. It’s a half-hour long, from stretch to last whistle — it’s kind of entertainment city. Although you’re coaching him and he was playing, it was just the Pro Bowl.
“But I’m anxious to see closely what we’re going to do offensively, be able to pivot a little bit, adjust, see what he does well and then the rest of the guys. I think that’s important.”
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