ENGLEWOOD, Colo — Christmas is over, but Sean Payton came up with a three-point list of what he wants for himself during the offseason.
One, he wants his team to be better in goal-to-go situations.
“Our tight red zone was awful,’’ the Broncos’ head coach said Tuesday in his end-of-season press conference. “I have to look closely at my sequencing and what I’m doing and calling.’’
Two, Payton wants his team to be better at converting third downs. The Broncos were 21st in 2023.
And three?
“I want to get my eyes fixed, so I call the right play and I don’t mess up and call the wrong play on a play that happened one time this year,’’ Payton said. “That was embarrassing.’’
Spending freeze
There will be fallout from the Broncos eating so much cash (close to $39 million in 2024) and salary cap (nearly $85 million over two years) from Russell Wilson’s contract.
“We won’t be in on the first wave of free agency like we were last year,’’ general manager George Paton said. “You can’t do that every year. We’ll be very strategic and very specific on what positions and what players we try to sign. Obviously, we have to hit on the draft. We’re picking high, and we have six picks. We could have more. You know we like picks. We’ll go from there.”
The Broncos were by far the biggest spenders in free agency last year, doling out $235 million worth of contracts in the first week, with right tackle Mike McGlinchey ($17.5 million per year), defensive tackle Zach Allen ($15.25 million per) and left guard Ben Powers ($13 million per) getting the richest deals.
New look?
The Broncos ownership group of Greg Penner, Carrie Walton Penner and Rob Walton is about to break ground on a new $176 million practice facility at Dove Valley. They are still exploring building a multibillion-dollar stadium. They just poured $100 million into their existing stadium at Empower Field at Mile High.
But new uniforms?
“Uniforms—nothing to announce on new uniforms today,’’ Penner said Tuesday. “That’s also been learning for me. I just figured when you wanted to change your uniforms, you just made a new uniform. But boy, it’s a several-year process with the league and Nike to get there. We’ll be having some things coming there in the future, but nothing to announce today.”
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