Do you think Sean Payton will turn the Broncos back into a winning franchise?

After the Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett the day after Christmas ending his tenure with the team before he even finished his first full season of coaching, the team needed to do something big when replacing him. Many names we reported and rumored but ultimately, the Broncos ended up acquiring head coach Sean Payton from the New Orleans Saints. He took a brief one-year hiatus from coaching and now re-joins the ranks looking to turn the Broncos franchise around.

Entering week one, there is a bit of cautious optimism surrounding the Broncos and their future under Payton. With that in mind, I asked the Mile High Report staff how confident they are in Sean Payton turning the Broncos franchise from a losing franchise to a winning franchise. He are their answers.

Tim Lynch

I am pretty confident that Payton will turn things around. I just don’t know how long it will take. He went 10-6 in his first season with the New Orleans Saints, so I’m going to go with that one.

Nick Burch

Very confident, just not sure it’s a major one-year turnaround. Get a winning season and move on from there.

Scotty

I like the building blocks in place and I think we’ll see big improvement two or three years down the road, but in the short term? We shall see!

Rachel Strand

Pretty confident. He is a very experienced, veteran coach who comes from an impressive coaching tree. I also enjoy his no-BS mentality. If he turns this team into a winning franchise again, I will dump hundreds of dollars into orange Broncos visors and wear them daily in his honor.

Adam

This is a great question. Confidence in Sean Payton is high. Think about how he turned around the Saints. Before his arrival, they were perennial losers. He rebuilt a broken-down Drew Brees and turned that franchise into a yearly contender. The follow-up question to this is how patient can we be? Will Greg Penner allow Payton the time it takes to right the ship? Will the fans, justifiably salty, give Payton the benefit of the doubt if things don’t go perfectly at the start? We shall see.

Ian St. Clair

Extremely. The most important factor in transforming a franchise is shifting the culture, and Payton has already done that. He will not accept a loser, and the Broncos finally have that message punctuated in their minds.

Mike DeCicco

Pretty confident. Even if it doesn’t happen this year. It’s a process. I just want to see a direction and a plan.

Christopher Hart

Quite confident. As I said earlier, I think they notch 10 wins and get a wildcard berth in 2023. I’d be surprised if Denver failed to get back to their winning ways under Payton. He has been a great coach, won a lot, and fielded a lot of competitive teams. It’d be a pretty big surprise if that didn’t happen.

Sadaraine

I’m very confident that he will do that. I don’t know if that will happen this year, but he’ll get us there. He’s a true leader with a vision for success who has been there and done that already. I love his moxy, thought process, and decision-making. The team is in great hands.