This is undoubtedly not how Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos envisioned the start of their season. The Broncos fell to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football 19-8 and, as a result, fell to a woeful 1-5 record to start the season.
Not much seems to be going right in Denver these days, and it has people around the team talking.
Whether the Broncos wanted to be here or not, the fact is that the team finds themselves entrenched in the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft conversation. With that enters the idea of possibly drafting USC’s star quarterback and consensus No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams.
That possibly being the Broncos’ reality come April has brought back some interesting comments that Payton once said about Williams and his future as a prospect.
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Will Sean Payton Get a ‘Truly Generational’ Player?
Before Payton accepted the head coaching job in Denver, he spent time on the media side of things doing various shows and analysis work for FOX Sports. During that time, he was asked about a wide array of topics — Williams being one of them.
Payton liked what he saw. So much so that he thought he could change the draft system as we know it.
Sean Payton believes Caleb Williams is a 'truly generational player' & is good enough that somebody will tank for him+cause the NFL to move to a lottery system to stop it happening again
I bring this up for no particular reason this October evening…pic.twitter.com/yGqS2YKfeV
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 13, 2023
“At some point, we’re going to move to a lottery system in the NFL because this is a player that possibly does that. Here you are in Weeks 14, 12, and clubs begin to lose to try and put themselves in that position. That’s not been a problem to date with our league as we know it.”
Payton alludes to the fact that Williams provides a truly unique situation that the NFL has not — in his mind — seen to date. A prospect so spectacular that it could force not just one but multiple teams to be okay with losing to win his services.
Russell Wilson Is the QB in the Meantime
While Payton had no way of knowing how the future would turn out, there is now a real chance that he and the Broncos organization could end up with Williams as their quarterback of the future.
MORE: Has Russell Wilson Been Exposed? Struggles Continue To Stretch Into Denver
In the meantime, however, Denver’s current QB, Russell Wilson, just signed a massive contract just over a year ago, and the financial ramifications of getting out of it are steep.
If the Broncos play poorly enough that this becomes a reality, it could cause some difficult conversations within the organization and how they would go about handling the unique dynamic.
Wilson’s Contract Might Complicate Things
The Broncos signed Wilson to a massive five-year, $245 million extension just last year, with two years already on the books pushing the total commitment to seven years and $296 million. With a price tag and timeline as extensive as this one, it’s not as simple as one may think if Denver does decide to get rid of Wilson in favor of Williams.
Due to the guaranteed money and the dead cap situation associated with the contract, Denver is handcuffed not only for 2023 but at least through the 2024 season as well.
It’s possible the Broncos retain Wilson for one more season in 2024 before cutting him either as a pre-June 1 cut to absorb all the charges in 2025 or spread the charges out as a post-June 1 cut.
However, if you have a talent like Williams on the roster, one would think it would be most advantageous to get him on the field as soon as possible rather than sitting. And if that’s the case, then you potentially have the most expensive backup QB in league history and one uncomfortable situation brewing in that quarterback room.
Any way you look at it, there is no easy solution for the Broncos at this time. The simplest thing they can do is go out there and get the best of Wilson and have it be enough to play at a championship level. Unfortunately, that ship looks like it has sailed and that it’s going to be a long hard season with possibly even harder decisions to come in the offseason.