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The Broncos and New Orleans Saints have reached an agreement to make Sean Payton Denver’s next head coach, Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson has confirmed.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport first reported that the teams were on Tuesday Agreed on a deal.

Sources told Robinson that the Broncos would send a first-round draft pick in 2023 and a second-round pick in 2024 for the right to hire Payton, who remains on New Orleans’ contract. The Broncos also receive a 2024 third-round pick in return.

Soon after the news was heard Payton told Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He is happy to be in Denver.

“Great fans. Great tradition,” Payton said. “The ownership team is fantastic, and I love the way they competed last year. It’s a great soccer city, just like we were in New Orleans.”

The terms of the deal between Payton and the Broncos were unclear at first.

A year ago, Payton resigned as the Saints’ coach. Everyone knows that coaching is never far away.

“Retirement, I don’t think is the right word today,” Payton said as he stepped down, according to WWL in New Orleans. “I don’t know what’s next and I feel good.”

During this coaching cycle, Payton and Jim Harbaugh were the big names in talking to teams. As far as Peyton is concerned, a coach with his credentials is rare.

Sean Payton had a great run as coach of the Saints.

Payton was the Saints’ coach from 2006-21. Before Payton came to New Orleans, the Saints had just one playoff victory in franchise history. Payton won nine playoff games in New Orleans, including the Super Bowl.

A few months after Peyton joined the Saints, the team landed quarterback Drew Brees in free agency. It’s hard to separate the two and there’s always a question of who was more responsible for the Saints’ success during that era, but Peyton’s record is much stronger.

Payton was 152-89 against the Saints. The team never finished worse than 7-9 with him and had nine seasons with double-digit wins. New Orleans didn’t have anything close to that level of success before Payton. The Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV at the end of the 2009 season for the first and only championship in franchise history.

When teams hire a new coach, it’s rare to find a candidate with more than 500 games in 60 games and a Super Bowl ring. Payton has only been out of football for one season, working with Fox Sports, so it doesn’t seem like he’s been out of the game very long. Peyton has reportedly been working on building his next line of assistants. After the start of the season, several teams were interested in signing him out of the coaching stint, with the Saints retaining his rights and possibly receiving trade compensation if he was hired by another team.

Payton, 59, wasn’t ready to leave the field.

Sean Payton coached the Saints for 15 seasons.  (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

Sean Payton coached the Saints for 15 seasons. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)



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