PHOENIX — Sean Payton hates the term run it back and loves his running backs.
He played it slow during the first week of free agency, then got fast in a hurry by completing a blockbuster trade for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Payton and the Broncos have spent more than a year prioritizing retention, but he insists that assuming anything from 2025 will be the same in 2026 is folly.
This is the challenge of arriving on the doorstep of a Super Bowl only to come up short. What you did worked well, but not well enough. Ifs and buts are easy to come by, especially after quarterback Bo Nix broke his ankle in overtime of the AFC’s divisional round.
Change for change’s sake doesn’t make sense, but neither does stasis.
“The better you get, the harder it is to improve your team,” Payton said Tuesday at the NFL’s annual spring meeting.
He spoke and answered questions from that unique perch: Well-situated as a contender with a quarterback in the midst of his rookie contract and also warding off any notion of complacency.
Here are five takeaways from Payton’s 27 minutes with reporters:
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos speaks to Bo Nix (10) after a failed third-down conversion during the third quarter at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Broncos know the stakes of having QB Bo Nix in his rookie contract window
What Payton said: “Everyone would say, ‘Hey, you’ve got Bo on his rookie deal.’ Well, no kidding.”
What it means: Teams with talented young quarterbacks who are still cheap are in the best position to build a complete roster. There’s really no way around that fact. Nix is entering his third professional season and will play with a cap charge just a shade above $5 million.
The implication of what Payton said is that he senses an external notion that perhaps the Broncos didn’t get aggressive enough to build around Nix in the midst of this window.
The PG-rated version of his response: Baloney.
In his mind, though, the Broncos had already done much of their building when free agency opened in early March.
That’s what the 10 contract extensions over the preceding 18 months were about. That’s what the last-minute run of deals for unheralded-yet-important pieces like Alex Palczewski, Justin Strnad, Alex Singleton, and Adam Trautman were about.
Payton chided anybody who cast the offseason as wasted before Denver swung the trade for Waddle.
The numbers mostly back Payton up. The Broncos retained virtually every core member of their offense and defense. Denver, according to OvertheCap data, is in the middle of the pack in cap space (No. 19 at $18.8 million) but ranks seventh in active cap spending. Only Seattle has less dead cap than Denver.
The Broncos have loaded up the roster; they are just betting that doing so with their own players is the better path to the Lombardi Trophy than bringing in extensive outside help.
Jaylen Waddle of the Miami Dolphins reacts during the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium on December 21, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Jaylen Waddle can be a force multiplier in multiple ways
What Payton said: “Whenever you get into a big-name free agent or a trade of this magnitude, the all-the-other-stuff is important research. When it comes to Waddle’s all-the-other-stuff, it was 10, 10, 10, 10. Obviously, he will help us.”
What it means: Waddle is a really good player. That much is obvious. The Broncos traded the rough equivalent of a first and a fourth-round pick for him because they think they’re acquiring much more than that.
Start with what Payton refers to as the “all-the-other-stuff.” Payton got glowing reviews on the receiver from former quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, one of the coach’s favorite former players and a trusted resource, as well as legendary former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Broncos corner Pat Surtain II and more. Payton calls certain players “force multipliers” in the locker room. Running back J.K. Dobbins is one. Defensive lineman Malcolm Roach is another. So, too, is Courtland Sutton. Denver thinks Waddle can be that, too.
He should have a similarly broad impact on the field. Payton said Waddle can play inside and outside and referred to his route tree as “extensive.” The coach’s favorite part about his new pass-catcher’s skill set: “He’s extremely fast and he stops fast.”
That’s the kind of player who can not only make an impact on his own — the Broncos wanted a high-caliber route-runner and believe Waddle is that — but who can also make life easier for the other receivers and Denver’s running game, too.
He’s the kind of player who can improve a team even when a team is good enough, as Payton said, where improving becomes a more difficult challenge. That, ultimately, is why the Broncos paid the price for Waddle. He checks every box they set out to find.
Jonah Elliss (52), Adam Prentice (46) and Jordan Turner (55) of the Denver Broncos team up to stop Jaret Patterson (32) of the Los Angeles Chargers during the third quarter at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
A creative option at inside linebacker — and a breakout candidate on the edge
What Payton said: “You’re going to see (Jonah) Elliss take some snaps inside. That’s something we’ve discussed relative to our depth on the edge.”
What it means: Perhaps the single most interesting personnel note from Payton is an impending position change for Denver’s third-year defender. Time will tell if the move sticks, but it says as much about another player on the roster as it does about Elliss himself.
This, in some ways, is a Que Robinson move. The Broncos think they might have stolen a really good player in the fourth round of the 2025 draft in Robinson, who is long, strong, plays tough against the run on the edge, but also has real pass-rush juice.
Robinson, though, was often a gameday inactive as a rookie behind Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Elliss and Dondrea Tillman. They’re all back for 2026. So perhaps Elliss can provide some quality play on the inside and free up time for Robinson in Denver’s OLB rotation.
Payton called the switch a matter of “looking at your assets” and lauded the skill set of Elliss.
The head coach noted that two of Elliss’ brothers, Kaden and Christian, have played in the middle of the field, and also that Zach Baun flourished in Philadelphia when he moved to the middle of the field.
If Denver gets anything resembling that kind of production, of course, the move will be a home run. At the very least, it’ll be a fascinating project to follow this summer.
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos works during the second quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Breaking news: The Broncos coach is not the warm and fuzzy type
What Payton said: “I don’t have anything warm and fuzzy in my golf bag. Except my towel.”
What it means: Payton was asked, essentially, if he could occasionally play the good cop with Nix or anybody else. He dropped one of his funniest lines of the day in response.
In more practical terms, though, Payton made an interesting comment in suggesting that Davis Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator and play-caller will likely change the complexion of Webb’s day-to-day relationship with Nix to some degree.
“Bo is in there with (new quarterbacks coach) Logan Kilgore now. Logan will be his warm and fuzzy.
Now, Davis and myself will be like, ‘Hey! What are you doing?’
One of the more fascinating subplots of the 2026 Broncos will be how Payton helps groom Webb as a play-caller. When Payton first took that role under his mentor, Bill Parcells, Parcells was extremely hands-on. Will Payton operate the same way? Will he push Webb to coach Nix in any form or manner differently now that he’s in the coordinator role rather than at the front of the QB room on a daily basis? Does Webb need to do anything differently now that he’s in front of the entire unit rather than one room?
Webb doesn’t have to have the same approach as Payton had when he was a young play-caller and Payton doesn’t have to have the same approach Parcells did all those years ago. But the similarities in both are readily apparent.
Sean Payton’s flag football coaching career will not go down as illustrious
What Payton said: “Well, that was humbling.”
What it means: Payton coached a bunch of NFL players and former players — including legendary former quarterback Tom Brady — against the U.S. national flag football team earlier in March. The tournament was originally supposed to be in Saudi Arabia, but was moved to Los Angeles due to the war in Iran.
What happened: The NFL guys got their clocks cleaned by the national flag football team. And Payton, who had Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh along as his defensive coordinator, had his eyes opened.
“You remember the ‘Home Alone’ series and Macaulay Culkin was inside the house? Well, the national team was Macaulay Culkin and I felt like Harbaugh and I were the two guys outside tripping over the garden hose. It’s an entirely different game. It was cool to be around those guys.”
Payton left the weekend with a prediction regarding the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A.
“When this was announced, there was this feeling that there would be 10 NFL players on that roster and I’ll be surprised if there’s one,” he said.