It’s no secret that the Denver Broncos have struggled so far under head coach Sean Payton, and quarterback Russell Wilson has not been particularly good this season, either. With the Broncos currently 1-5 with the worst record in the league, many speculate that the team might try to put itself in a position to draft USC Trojans star quarterback Caleb Williams – and some old comments from Payton seem to confirm those thoughts.
During an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd last year, Sean Payton got pretty candid in his thoughts about Caleb Williams, calling him a “generational player” and even suggested that he thinks teams will intentionally tank for a chance to draft him.
“I think he’s a generational player,” Payton said of Williams.
Sean Payton believes Caleb Williams is a 'truly generational player' & is good enough that somebody will tank for him+cause the NFL to move to a lottery system to stop it happening again
I bring this up for no particular reason this October evening…pic.twitter.com/yGqS2YKfeV
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 13, 2023
Payton went on to explain that he thinks Williams is a good enough prospect that it could force the league to move to a lottery system for its draft order to prevent teams from tanking in the draft.
“This is a player that possibly does that,” Payton said. “That’s not been a problem to date with our league as we know it – and it very well could have been.”
“This player, I think, is the type of player that we would look back on in five years and say ‘He’s why the lottery exists now,'” Payton continued.
They’re pretty eye-opening comments, considering that the Broncos and Payton now appear to be in a position where they could tank in order to select Williams, and the NFL world had a lot to say about it on social media.
I was talking about a lottery to avoid tanking a couple of days ago. Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks it needs to change for the reasons I mentioned. The difference is he has a microphone and evidence that it has already happened. Hope to see the owners take it up in…
— David Wrenn (@dave1slave) October 13, 2023
No wonder he’s not playing Mims!
— FFNinja (@F_F_Ninja) October 13, 2023
https://twitter.com/2HUNNID6TAY/status/1712819404315267494?s=20
Ratings for NFL draft lottery will be through the roof.
— Dan Freddy (@BuffaloFreddy) October 13, 2023
sean tanking payton
— smalls (@StephieSmallls) October 13, 2023
He barely missed Mahomes not going to let this one slip away.
— RetiredDonater (@NFLPinnacleBeat) October 13, 2023
We’ll have to see whether or not these comments come full circle and Payton ends up with Williams as his next quarterback.
