The 2023 NFL offseason has seen many players and coaches go to different teams, but one of the most impactful moves in most people’s eyes is when the Broncos brought Super Bowl-winning coach and former coach of the Saints, Sean Payton, out of retirement to coach their team. He hopes to help Russell Wilson in the same way he helped Brees get back on track.
Before going to Denver, Coach Payton was an analyst on NFL on Fox for the pregame show. He is mostly known for the time he coached Drew Bress when they were in New Orleans and winning a Super Bowl there.
Broncos QB Russell Wilson (3) – Jack Dempsey/AP
During the press conference this week, Payton had many observations he noticed about his starting QB that impressed him that he later told the media about after the OTA’s for that week.
Coach Payton said,“ He’s picking it up, the timing and all of those things that are required.”
Can Coach Payton Save Russell Wilson
According to an interview Wilson had with Fox Sports, Wilson said he had tried to keep a lower public profile after the tough season he had before and wanted to lose weight as well before next season.
A lot of what’s changed about Russ in terms of his behavior on and off the field recently has come from help from his new coach. On and off-the-field behavior was something Wilson struggled with last year when playing for the Broncos and also when he played for the Seahawks. His problems even led him to have disagreements with his teammates at practice and during games which made it harder for his recievers and teammates to want to play hard for him. The struggles of Russ was just one of the things that led the Broncos to have a rough record of 5-12 last season.
Coach Payton has helped Russ overcome these issues that he has had by requesting changes he thinks Russ should make. He hopes this will help Russ be a better player and a person on and off the field.
Recently, Russell Wilson came out and talked about how much he has enjoyed working with Coach Payton. During a press event this week, Wilson called him “one of the best coaches to ever coach this game. He’s intense, he’s focused; he’s such a great teacher of the game.”
This is a very different perspective from Russ on the Broncos and the new coach because Russ had a hard time with his previous coach, Nathaniel Hackett. Hackett is now with Aaron Rodgers again: the all-star QB he worked with in Green Bay when he was Packers QB coach. A few games after Coach Hackett joined the Broncos, he got fired because of the bad team chemistry and a rough start to the season in 2022. Now he’s working with Rodgers again in New York as an Offensive Coordinator after Rodgers left the Packers to go to the young Jets team coached by Robert Saleh and OC Nathaniel Hackett.
So far, the changes seem to be working well for Russell Wilson and Coach Sean Payton in Denver, but will it work moving forward? Time will tell. Also, will we see a re-emergence of Russell Wilson being a star QB again after the rough season he had for the Broncos last year, and will he have better chemistry with his teammates?
Russell Wilson isn’t counting the pounds, but he is feeling “lean and mean.” pic.twitter.com/UrQztCNsOb
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) May 25, 2023
