The Denver Broncos turnaround in the Sean Payton era has been one of the more notable ones in all of professional sports. The year before Payton arrived, in the 2022 NFL Season, Denver was one of the more dysfunctional teams in the NFL.
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The Denver Broncos turnaround in the Sean Payton era has been one of the more notable ones in all of professional sports. The year before Payton arrived, in the 2022 NFL Season, Denver was one of the more dysfunctional teams in the NFL.
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Having won just five games, the Broncos became one of the very few teams in the history of the NFL to fire a head coach in year one, parting with Nathaniel Hackett late in the regular season. Since that 5-win season, we've seen Denver win 8, 10, and 14 games, also coming within one game of the Super Bowl.
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Having won just five games, the Broncos became one of the very few teams in the history of the NFL to fire a head coach in year one, parting with Nathaniel Hackett late in the regular season. Since that 5-win season, we’ve seen Denver win 8, 10, and 14 games, also coming within one game of the Super Bowl.
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This hasn't just happened coincidentally – it's taken a deliberate buy-in from the players and coaches, as the culture that Payton has helped bring to the team is the catalyst for this success. No one embodies this more than Garett Bolles, the Broncos' left tackle who endured a ton of losing seasons before the breakout year in 2024.
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This hasn’t just happened coincidentally – it’s taken a deliberate buy-in from the players and coaches, as the culture that Payton has helped bring to the team is the catalyst for this success. No one embodies this more than Garett Bolles, the Broncos’ left tackle who endured a ton of losing seasons before the breakout year in 2024.
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Garett Bolles talks about the Denver Broncos culture and what separates it from others
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Garett Bolles talks about the Denver Broncos culture and what separates it from others
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In an exclusive interview with FanSided's Mike Luciano, with his partnership on behalf of USAA for Memorial Day, Bolles peels back the curtain and lays it all out there about the Broncos' culture:
We're not just going to bring in the biggest name…That's not how Super Bowl teams are. That's not the culture you build, it takes a special group of people to be in our locker room, to be a Denver Bronco, to put on the blue and orange, it's not just some random person…There's a reason why we moved back in the draft, because we felt like nobody was ready for us. There's certain things that we do that people are like "AAAH" and we sit there, and we're just like that's who we are, you either like it, or you hate it. You want to hate it, hate it, but guess what, we like it, because we have the people in that locker room to do what it takes to be great and go win something that we need to get back to Denver, and we were that close last year…I can only imagine what we're going to do this year."
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In an exclusive interview with FanSided’s Mike Luciano, with his partnership on behalf of USAA for Memorial Day, Bolles peels back the curtain and lays it all out there about the Broncos’ culture:
We’re not just going to bring in the biggest name…That’s not how Super Bowl teams are. That’s not the culture you build, it takes a special group of people to be in our locker room, to be a Denver Bronco, to put on the blue and orange, it’s not just some random person…There’s a reason why we moved back in the draft, because we felt like nobody was ready for us. There’s certain things that we do that people are like «AAAH» and we sit there, and we’re just like that’s who we are, you either like it, or you hate it. You want to hate it, hate it, but guess what, we like it, because we have the people in that locker room to do what it takes to be great and go win something that we need to get back to Denver, and we were that close last year…I can only imagine what we’re going to do this year.»
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Bolles really doesn't hold back, and he brings up a couple of awesome points. When the Broncos cut Russell Wilson following the 2023 season, despite Wilson having a 98 passer rating that year, many in the media came at the Broncos and just did not hold back.
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Bolles really doesn’t hold back, and he brings up a couple of awesome points. When the Broncos cut Russell Wilson following the 2023 season, despite Wilson having a 98 passer rating that year, many in the media came at the Broncos and just did not hold back.
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Cutting Wilson and absorbing that $85 million dead cap hit was a historic move that was, at the time, the most dead cap in the history of the NFL, but it had to be done. All Denver has done since then is win 24 regular season games and make the playoffs both years.
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Cutting Wilson and absorbing that $85 million dead cap hit was a historic move that was, at the time, the most dead cap in the history of the NFL, but it had to be done. All Denver has done since then is win 24 regular season games and make the playoffs both years.
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Bolles also brings up moving back in the draft, which is interesting. Given how loaded the Broncos roster already was coming into the 2026 NFL Draft, there really wasn't a need for Denver to get desperate. The team had already traded first and third-round picks for Jaylen Waddle, so the draft capital was already depleted.
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Bolles also brings up moving back in the draft, which is interesting. Given how loaded the Broncos roster already was coming into the 2026 NFL Draft, there really wasn’t a need for Denver to get desperate. The team had already traded first and third-round picks for Jaylen Waddle, so the draft capital was already depleted.
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But Denver then traded out of the second round and ended up not making a pick in either of the first two rounds. Most, if not every single move the Broncos have made since the start of the 2023 offseason has been a deliberate move to go in a certain direction.
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But Denver then traded out of the second round and ended up not making a pick in either of the first two rounds. Most, if not every single move the Broncos have made since the start of the 2023 offseason has been a deliberate move to go in a certain direction.
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The Broncos have taken steps to rid the franchise of the culture of old and install a winning, sustainable culture.
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The Broncos have taken steps to rid the franchise of the culture of old and install a winning, sustainable culture.
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