Since the Denver Broncos used their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on quarterback Bo Nix, it’s reasonable to wonder why they spent more than a month negotiating and finalizing a trade for Zach Wilson at the same position. The Broncos already had Jarrett Stidham on the roster, and while adding skill to the quarterback position is never a terrible idea, general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton made a puzzling move.
So Sean Payton clarified.
Why did you make a trade for Zach Wilson?
“We just thought, ‘Man, we’d love to work with this man.’ We recently remembered grading him. [We] felt the investment was worthwhile in terms of his skill set and talent. So that took a bit. We spent about a month and a half working on that trade.”
The thought process behind obtaining a player like Zach Wilson is quite easy. He’s still only 24 years old. He is incredibly gifted. He has starting experience in the NFL and has taken some hard knocks. Many people consider him an NFL Draft “bust” at this point, but as Sean Payton pointed out, the ink is still drying on the marks he received from scouts, coaches, and executives following the 2021 NFL Draft.
During his tenure as head coach, Payton has made a point of repairing quarterbacks’ worth.
When he joined the New York Giants as quarterbacks coach in 1999, Kerry Collins was added to the roster. Collins, the former fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft, was then released by the Carolina Panthers. He placed second in the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year voting in 2000 and started more than 140 games outside of his time with Carolina.
In 2005, Payton’s final season with the Dallas Cowboys, the team won nine games with Patriots castoff Drew Bledsoe at quarterback. Bledsoe was once the first overall choice in the NFL Draft, and that was his final complete season as an NFL starter.
When Payton joined the New Orleans Saints in 2006, he famously brought in Drew Brees through free agency. Brees was the 32nd overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, which was considered a second-round pick at the time. In 2004, the Chargers traded for his replacement by drafting Eli Manning and swapping him with Philip Rivers in a deal with the Giants. Brees was productive at times with the Chargers, but the team did not want him.
He was a Hall of Fame quarterback under Sean Payton.
Teddy Bridgewater was a former first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings whose NFL career was jeopardized by a horrific leg injury during the 2016 summer. Even when he was able to “come back” in the 2017 season, he did not appear like himself. Teddy left the Vikings for free agency and signed with the New York Jets. Sean Payton loved what he saw in the preseason and traded a third-round pick to acquire him.
When he was asked to start a five-game run for the Saints in 2019, Bridgewater played the finest football of his NFL career and signed a $63 million contract with the Panthers as a result.
After throwing 30 interceptions in a season with the Buccaneers, former Heisman champion and #1 overall pick Jameis Winston entered free agency at his lowest value. Sean Payton brought him in with the Saints and started him in 2021, where he had the highest touchdown % and lowest interception percentage of his NFL career through the first six games and change before tearing his ACL.
Former first-round picks (or top-32 picks) who were cut from their initial teams. All of them were able to fully realize their potential under Sean Payton, even if only for a short time.
If Payton claims that the investment in acquiring Zach Wilson in a trade was justified based on his skill set and talent, he has more than earned the benefit of doubt.
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