Last year, the Denver Broncos were very vocal about their lofty 2022 ambitions — before the team proved anything on the field.
The Broncos’ in-house media team gave coach-by-coach interview updates during the hiring cycle, and the club provided a behind-the-scenes look at Denver’s offseason in a mini-documentary series.
New coach Nathaniel Hackett was overjoyed but the arrival of quarterback Russell Wilson, who coined the catchphrase “Let’s Ride,” which was then used all over the team’s social media pages.
The Broncos were everywhere, and the hype was off the charts. This year, under new head coach Sean Payton, things will be different.
“The work has started. I kind of use this term, ‘A little bit more anonymous donors this season,'” Payton said during his introductory press conference last week. “Just know that we’re working, but with a little bit less visibility on social media and all those other things. We’re going to get to work, and ultimately, it’s how we do in the fall. We kind of go from there. We have to earn it with our fans. We’ve got fantastic fans that will appreciate that.”
Payton said fans should expect a “completely different type of culture” at the team’s facility going forward. What exactly that looks like remains to be seen, but the coach kicking Wilson’s personal trainers out of the team’s facility might be a sign of things to come.
“With any team or any organization, you have law and order … [t]here’s a certain unselfishness to being a part of a team,” Payton said. “You come in with your standards, but you’re not coming in indicting anyone else’s. You are just coming in with, ‘This is how we’re going to teach; this is how we’re going to meet, and this is how we’re going to practice.’ I’m not too familiar with maybe how that was in the last few years — four years or five years. It’s kind of one of those where you really knock the rearview mirror off the automobile. We’re just looking forward.”
This offseason, the Broncos might not have quite as big of a presence on social media, but the team will be putting its head down to get to work. Payton wants the team’s performance on the field to speak for itself.
“Ultimately, it’s what we do during the season,” Payton said. “That’s how we’re measured.”
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