{"id":434244,"date":"2026-01-24T10:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434244\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:30:07","slug":"sean-payton-contract-explained-where-broncos-coachs-deal-ranks-among-highest-paid-nfl-head-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434244\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Payton contract, explained: Where Broncos coach’s deal ranks among highest-paid NFL head coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Payton has had quite the NFL career, dating back to\u00a02000. For three seasons, he served as the New York Giants<\/a>‘ offensive coordinator\u00a0before taking the job most NFL fans associate with Payton.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Payton was hired by the New Orleans Saints<\/a> as their head coach. It took only three seasons for the Saints to become Super Bowl champions. Payton then coached\u00a0the Saints for the next 11 seasons (including a full 2012 season suspension).<\/p>\n

In 2022, Payton stepped down as the head coach of the Saints, but it was categorized more as a recharge than an actual retirement. Payton only took a one-year hiatus from the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During this off-time, Payton worked for Fox as a studio analyst for the 2022 NFL season. Payton would primarily fill in for Jimmie Johnson when he was off, but he never did call a game as a broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While fulfilling his role at Fox, Payton began interviewing for head coaching positions and ultimately landed in Denver.<\/p>\n

He was then traded to the Denver Broncos<\/a> in 2023, where he is currently the head coach. This was following the acquisition of Russell Wilson, whom the Broncos thought could help return their franchise to AFC contention.<\/p>\n

The Sporting News has the full breakdown of Payton’s contract situation.<\/p>\n

MORE 2026 NFL PLAYOFF NEWS:<\/p>\n

Sean Payton contract<\/p>\n

Once Payton was able to sign with the Broncos, he agreed on a five-year contract in February 2023.<\/p>\n

The deal holds Payton under contract through 2027\u00a0and pays him roughly $18 million annually, making him among the highest-paid head coaches entering the 2025 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the Broncos were not done paying for their guy, as there were\u00a0other costs associated with Payton’s coaching rights.<\/p>\n

Highest-paid NFL head coaches<\/p>\n

Heading into the 2025 season, these were the estimated highest-paid head coaches in the NFL based on average annual salary.<\/p>\n

RankCoachTeamAnnual Salary1Andy ReidKC$20 million2Sean PaytonDEN$18 million3Jim HarbaughLAC$16\u00a0millionT-4Sean McVayLAR$15\u00a0millionT-4Nick SiraniPHI$15\u00a0millionT-6Kyle ShanahanSF$14\u00a0millionT-6Mike VrabelNE$14\u00a0millionT-8Ben JohnsonCHI$13\u00a0millionT-8Kevin O’ConnellMIN$13\u00a0millionSean Payton trade<\/p>\n

While it’s not all that common, Payton was indeed traded from the Saints to the Broncos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In NFL history, there have been eight significant head coach trades. The very first one dates back to 1970, when Don Shula was traded from the Miami Dolphins<\/a> to the Baltimore Colts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0notable coach trades include Bruce Arians from the Cardinals<\/a> to the Buccaneers<\/a>, Herm Edwards from the Jets<\/a> to the Chiefs<\/a>, and Jon Gruden from the Raiders<\/a> to the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

As it relates to Payton, when he stepped down as head coach of the New Orleans Saints, he was still under contract.\u00a0As a result, the Saints held onto his coaching rights\u00a0and eventually traded them away to the Broncos in 2023.<\/p>\n

In return, the Saints received the Broncos’ 2023 first-round pick\u00a0and their 2024 second-round pick. These picks turned into DT Bryan Bresee from Clemson and CB Kool-Aid McKinstry out of Alabama.<\/p>\n

Along with the coaching rights to Payton, Denver also got the Saints’ 2024 third-round pick. This pick ended up being Jonah Eliss out of Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Payton has had quite the NFL career, dating back to\u00a02000. For three seasons, he served as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-434244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}