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The Broncos were hoping Sean Payton could help them rebound when they hired him after an abysmal season, but the situation in Denver is somehow worse than it was under Nathaniel Hackett. Now, some NFL fans are buying into a conspiracy theory stemming from what Payton had to say about Caleb Williams last year.
Williams headed into his junior year at USC as the most highly-touted quarterback in the country, and he’s lived up to expectations while cementing his status as a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.
At this point, it’s a foregone conclusion that Williams will skip his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, and there are obviously plenty of NFL teams who would love to add him to their roster.
When you consider Russell Wilson has firmly fallen off the cliff, it’s safe to assume the Broncos are one of those franchises—and based on what Payton had to say about the QB during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd in November 2022, he would be very happy to coach the player he positioned as a generational talent.
"At some point, we're going to move to a lottery system in the NFL. This is a player that possibly does that."
— @SeanPayton on Caleb Williams pic.twitter.com/XV4DTEytSO
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) November 28, 2022
Here’s how he described Williams during that appearance:
“At some point, we’re going to move to a lottery system in the NFL. This is a player that possibly does that.
At the end of the season…clubs begin to lose to try to put themselves in that position. That’s not been a problem to date with our league. It very well could’ve been; we’ve had two teams that I know of [the Buccaneers and Eagles] that have lost games…
This player, I think, is the type of player that we would look back on in five years and say ‘He’s why the lottery exists now.'”
I don’t think there’s anyone out there who seriously believes Payton came out of retirement to play the long con in the hopes of getting to coach Williams, and if he was really trying to tank, you have to imagine he wouldn’t have had much motivation to help the Broncos mount a 21-comeback against the Bears for what remains their only win of the season so far.
With that said, there’s nothing NFL fans love more than a good conspiracy theory.