Sean Payton is heading into his fourth season as the Broncos head coach.
He has helped restore the franchise to regular contention in the AFC and has led the Broncos to the postseason in each of the past two seasons.
The Broncos have built a deep roster, have an apparent franchise quarterback in Bo Nix and stability atop their football operation in Payton and general manager George Paton.
Payton himself, of course, has been doing this a long time and has his own way of doing the job. That comes with a unique vernacular.
So, now that Payton’s got a few years of interviews under his belt in Denver, itap overdue to help decode some of his most common phrases.
Here is The Postap Sean Payton Translator.
Relative to — The main connector between any two thoughts. A practice plan relative to upcoming travel. A receiver’s route relative to how itap devised. Recovery methods now relative to what they were 20 years ago. “Relative to” can also be used in question form, particularly if Payton doesn’t quite hear the question. Conversations with Paton and Greg Penner? Relative to?
Great question — A question Payton is willing to answer and often a topic he was just thinking about or talking about with his team or somebody else. Or a question that triggers a trip down memory lane.
Good question — Usually football questions that don’t fly to close to the schematics or game-planning sun.
Fair question — A question Payton doesn’t want any part of.
The vision — How Payton and the Broncos’ front office sees a player’s ideal role unfolding. The Broncos want to have a clear vision for a player before they draft, sign or trade for him. A vision can evolve over time, but generally Payton demands scouts and assistant coaches to be able to lay out the vision for a player’s first year, second year and beyond if Denver is going to draft or acquire him.
You know what you’re getting — One of the highest compliments Payton will give a player. This is the Lil’Jordan Humphrey Award, basically. There is immense value in Payton’s eyes in getting to game-planning meetings on Wednesday night and not having to wonder about how a player fits into the plan. Doesn’t have to be a star, just consistent and reliable. That counts over talent on the margins. Sometimes by substantial margins.
The applesauce story — A true Payton pantheon that not very many players ascend to. Payton has a line where he says someday he’ll be eating applesauce and a player will visit and he won’t remember the player’s name but he’ll remember a play or moment. Ja’Quan McMillian made the cut here with his overtime interception against Buffalo.
The NFL train – A sort of nebulous concept that is basically a metaphor for the consensus conversation happening in the NFL at any given time. Particularly prevalent around the draft and free agency. This guy is definitely a first-round pick. This receiver is better than that one. Bo Nix is a reach in the first round. So on and so forth. We see the train but we don’t know who’s driving it. Don’t get on the train.
‘A’ learner — Somebody who picks up concepts and football responsibilities quickly. Payton only wants ‘A’ learners, but not everybody can be one. Be warned, though, if a college coach tells you one of his players is a ‘B’ learner, that really means ‘C’ learner. A ‘C’ learner can make it with Payton, but itap an uphill battle.
Bill — Thatap Bill Parcells. Nearly every single time. If Payton’s talking about Bill Belichick, he normally says ‘Belichick.’ There is one Bill.
We’re not splitting the atom — Generally used to bat away questions about something he thinks is being over-covered or has already been explained
We’ll let you know — He will definitely not be letting you know.
