After the Denver Broncos agreed to terms on a trade with the New Orleans Saints for coach Sean Payton last week, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport dropped an interesting report on the team’s head coach search.
The Broncos, according to Rapoport, made a last-second push to try to hire DeMeco Ryans before ultimately turning their attention to completing the Payton trade. Several outlets shot that notion down on the same day Rapoport published it.
During Payton’s introductory press conference on Monday, team owner/CEO Greg Penner was asked directly if Denver tried to hire Ryans immediately before landing Payton.
“That wasn’t the case,” Penner said. “Again, we met with a number of great candidates throughout the process. Once we locked in on Sean about five or six days before we got the trade done with the Saints, our focus was entirely on him and closing that.”
If that’s true, Rapoport’s source(s) gave him incredibly bad info. Payton delivered a zinger in response to the report.
“I think that DeMeco was probably talking with Lewis Hamilton or something because I was on the phone with these guys [Penner and GM George Paton] the whole time,” Payton said.
Hamilton, of course, is a minority owner who has not had a big role with the team since buying a minority interest in the club last August.
The Broncos were interested in Ryans during their head coach search — he was considered a favorite at one point — but the team denies making a last-second attempt to hire him before landing on Payton.
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