Broncos Essentially Traded Bradley Chubb for Sean Payton

The Broncos are trading edge rusher Bradley Chubb for head coach Sean Payton. Yes, it's pretty much that simple. And it's an excellent move by the Broncos.

The Broncos were suffering from a dearth of first-round draft picks following the 2022 trade with the Seattle Seahawks for Russell Wilson. But in November, the Broncos traded Chubb to the Miami Dolphins for that team's first-round pick, which the South Florida team originally got by way of the San Francisco 49ers.

And that pick — 29th overall — is now being used to land Payton, a proven winner, from the New Orleans Saints. The trade also involves the Broncos swapping their 2024 second-round pick for the Saints' 2024 third-round pick. In other words, a one-round pick swap and Chubb for Payton, who was a tier-one head coaching candidate this year, on the level of new Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh.

The move, which became public on January 31, makes perfect sense for both the Saints and the Broncos. The Saints get some draft compensation for letting their former coach head to another team. And the Broncos, who had zero interest in overpaying Chubb $110 million over five years, like the Dolphins did, land a Super Bowl champion head coach to guide a team that needs a steadying veteran presence while also focusing on winning, and winning now.

Coaches aren't cheap in trades, so the deal is more than fair for the Broncos. It was just two decades ago that the Oakland Raiders traded the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two first-round picks, two second-round picks and $8 million to land Jon Gruden as their head coach. And Gruden hadn't even been the subject of a Netflix feature film starring Kevin James, a résumé bullet point that Sean Payton alone can boast.

In terms of actual NFL pedigree, Payton amassed 152 wins to 89 losses in the regular season during his tenure as head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He's also got his ring from winning Super Bowl XLIV. That type of regular season record and a championship are feats accomplished by only the best coaches in the league.

Critics of the move to land Payton will argue that Drew Brees carried him all those years, and that winning a lone Super Bowl with a Hall of Famer at quarterback is a letdown. But this is the NFL, and some of the most successful coaches of all time — like former Broncos coach Dan Reeves — would have given away their firstborn to win it all just once. And excellent quarterback play is almost always needed to win a ring. It's worth the risk to find out whether there's any merit to that criticism.

This move also shows that general manager George Paton and the team's ownership correctly view the Broncos as a team that should compete for an NFL championship right now.

The Broncos went all in on Wilson at quarterback when they traded away top draft picks and a handful of players in 2022 and signed Russ to a five-year contract extension worth $245 million. That focus on Wilson leading the Broncos to a championship cannot and should not be abandoned after one bad season for the "Broncos Country, let's ride" Broncos.

Nathaniel Hackett, a talented offensive coordinator in the right situation, was totally overwhelmed by the demands of working as an NFL head coach. And as Hackett struggled, so did the team, most notably Russ.

Once the Broncos fired Hackett on December 26, Wilson spent the last two games looking a bit more comfortable running the team's offense. That hints at the possibility that Hackett was the main one holding the team back, and that Russ could actually cook with a better leader running the Broncos.

With a rejuvenated Wilson and a great coach like Payton guiding this offense and team, the Broncos could be ready to make some noise again. The good kind.