ESPN’s Seth Wickersham released a lengthy story on Tuesday about Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and the franchise’s playoff appearances last season.
The story is an intricate deep dive into the weeks leading up to the 2026 AFC divisional-round game against the Buffalo Bills and the AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.
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Wickersham’s look behind the curtain provides rarely seen access for fans to get a sense of what goes on during game weeks and the mindsets teams are in.
One of the more interesting things in the entire story is a nugget Wickersham included about Payton’s relationship with former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
The two veteran head coaches go way back, both serving on Bill Parcells’ staff at different times and both being head coaches in the NFL for more than a decade and a half.
When Belichick and the Patriots parted ways following the 2023 season, he had 333 total wins in the NFL between the regular season and playoffs.
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According to Wickersham, Payton had an idea of approaching Broncos owner Greg Penner and devising a plan to hire Belichick as the franchise’s head coach until he reached 15 wins.
This would have allowed Belichick to have 348 career wins, passing Don Shula’s all-time record. During that time, Payton would have worked as the assistant head coach and then taken over for Belichick once he reached that feat.
Payton never officially asked Penner about the idea, determining that it was too complicated and too much wishful thinking for a friend.
Still, the idea itself is a wild one and would certainly have been unprecedented, with plenty of hoops to jump through. Plus, there is no telling how long it would have taken Belichick and Denver to win 15 games.
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It is easy to see why the idea didn’t pan out. Belichick has since left the NFL coaching ranks and instead has taken his talents to the college game. He is currently the head coach of the University of North Carolina and is in his second season with the school.
