At his introductory news conference, Sean Payton didn’t waste any time publicly squashing Russell Wilson’s special perks at the team facility. The quarterback no longer will have his own office, and his performance team won’t have special access.
On Tuesday, the new Broncos coach further addressed the changes he has made that will affect Wilson.
As Payton pointed out, if the Broncos had won, he wouldn’t be the coach, and Wilson’s special benefits wouldn’t have become an issue.
“A lot was made of that, and it was just an honest answer,” Payton said. “I know what I’m familiar with and what I’m expecting. You guys will hear me throughout this season: At some point, you guys will digest ’22, but for me and this team when we get into the offseason, I’m going to park a car with no rearview mirror, sideview mirrors. Those will all be gone. We’ve got to get past all those difficult things. It was a tough year, and someone said it last night, they have success last [year], I don’t think the upstairs meeting room matters to anybody. I don’t think it matters, because I didn’t see any articles from any of you prior to Week 1 or Week 2 when it was happening. That’s what happens when you lose. Everything gets looked at closely, including the coaching.
“We’ll have a way of doing business, and I think it’ll be what I’m familiar with and what’s best for the players.”
Payton had dinner with Wilson in Arizona during Super Bowl week, the only face-to-face meeting they had had since Payton got the job. Payton said the two have exchanged texts since, and he expects to meet “periodically” over the next month.
“We had a good dinner [at the Super Bowl],” Payton said. “There was a group of people at our table. Joe Montana was at our table. I know Russell was interested in talking about where we’re going, and I was interested in learning from Joe Montana. So we found it was good conversation.
“Yeah, we’re looking forward to the start of the season. Obviously, certainly for Russell’s standards and the Broncos’ standards, it wasn’t the type of year that they wanted. Typically that’s why new head coaches arrive. So, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us right now. We’re just kind of getting started. This obviously is an important process.”