Sean Payton coaching history: Comparing early Broncos and Saints career

The New Orleans Saints and the Denver Broncos are set to go head to head in Week 7's rendition of Thursday Night Football. Due to injuries, the game will be without a ton of both team's top talent including Chris Olave and Patrick Surtain.

But, the big storyline in the game should be Sean Payton, the Denver Broncos head coach, returning to New Orleans to play the Saints for the first time since he left his job with the team in 2021. Payton spent the first 15 years of his head coaching career with the Saints before taking a one-year hiatus in 2022 and returning to coach the Broncos in 2023 and 2024.

Sean Payton's 15-year career with the New Orleans Saints

From 2000 to 2002, Payton worked as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants. Payton would then become the assistant coach and quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys under Bill Parcells. After serving in this role from 2003 to 2005, Payton would land his first head coaching job with the New Orleans Saints in 2006.

The Saints were fresh off a 3-13 season right after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans. New Orleans would bring in Payton and free agent quarterback Drew Brees, who teamed up to turn the page to a new chapter for the Saints.

New Orleans would go 10-6 and win a playoff game in 2006, but fail to make the postseason in 2007 or 2008. 2009 would be the most successful year of Payton's coaching career. Payton would lead the Saints to a 13-3 record en route to a Super Bowl victory.

During his 15-year tenure with the team, Payton held an overall record of 152-89. He would go 9-8 in the playoffs with the Saints.

But Payton's Saints career will always have the stain of "Bountygate" place on it, revolving around a scandal that happened within the Saints organization from 2009 to 2011.

What is Bountygate? Explaining Sean Payton's biggest scandal

For those that are not familiar with 'Bountygate' it refers to the scandal that surrounded the New Orleans Saints from the year 2009 until 2011. The Saints were found to be operating a bounty system that would pay players for hard hits and intentionally injuring opposing players. There were around 25 Saints that participated in the program in those two years.

An article on ESPN summed it up the best:

"On March 2, 2012, the NFL announced the findings of its investigation, saying that the players and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams pooled their money to pay out the bonuses over three seasons. The league also found that head coach Sean Payton was aware of the bounty system and, though not directly involved with it, hadn't done anything to shut it down. Saints GM Mickey Loomis had been ordered by owner Tom Benson to shut down the program, but failed to do so."

This scandal will always be a stain on Payton's coaching career. Though Payton wasn't directly involved in the bounties, he knew about it, and he didn't stop it. Payton would serve a one year suspension in 2012 as a result.

Sean Payton's early career with the Denver Broncos

Payton now finds himself as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, where he's seen mixed results. Payton and the Broncos would go 8-9 in 2023, where the veteran head coach came under some serious fire in regards to his decision to bench veteran QB Russell Wilson in favor or Jarrett Stidham at the end of the year.

Wilson would leave in free agency and the Broncos would select their new franchise QB, Bo Nix, in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Nix and Payton are off to a 3-3 start to the 2024 season.