Former HC: Sean Payton Driven to Turn Bo Nix Into an NFL Star

Sean Payton achieved greatness with the New Orleans Saints. But it all started with taking a chance on a former Pro Bowl quarterback still young in his NFL career, who was coming off an injury that many around the league believed would be career-ending: Drew Brees.

Just three years into his tenure as a first-time head coach, Payton achieved the ultimate triumph by defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. Brees out-dueled Peyton Manning, and the Saints won the first and only Lombardi Trophy in the franchise's history.

Payton and Brees would go on to produce sustained success together for a decade-plus in New Orleans. But when Father Time came calling, Brees retired. One year later, Payton stepped down as Saints head coach.

What more did Payton have to prove? He'd won it all and established himself as one of the brightest offensive minds in the game, always on the cutting edge of innovation.

According to one anonymous former NFL coach, Payton's motivation to turn the Denver Broncos around and chase another Super Bowl with Bo Nix is to prove that he can win it all without Brees.

“I think that’s some of his motivation for coming back," the coach told Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano. "I believe he’s going to get it done. I believe they’re going to take the next step in the right direction.”

Payton Driven to Make Nix a Star

Manzano writes that Payton is still well regarded, but the question of whether he or Brees was most deserving of the credit for New Orleans' success may eat at the Broncos' head coach. It's not just about winning another Super Bowl in Denver; Payton wants to also turn Nix into a bona fide star.

"Payton is regarded as one of the best coaches in the game, but he also benefited from having Drew Brees as his quarterback for many years with the Saints," Manzano wrote. "According to a former head coach, Payton might be highly motivated to develop Nix into a star and win a Super Bowl without Brees."

Nix is already a star in Denver. But as Broncos fans have learned throughout this offseason, the NFL at large isn't convinced that he's a legitimate franchise quarterback, let alone a star.

In the same article, Manzano sketches out Nix's historic rookie season as little more than the contributions of a game manager. Despite Nix leading all rookies in passing yards and touchdowns, the preconceived tropes surrounding him as a "system quarterback" pre-draft still persist.

"Now the question becomes whether Nix can become a star QB in his second season and be more than just a quality game manager," Manzano wrote. "Nix had his fair share of struggles last season, which didn’t hurt the team much because of his strong surroundings."

Indeed, Nix had his struggles as a rookie, especially in the first quarter of the season, but he had more than his fair share of stunning successes. He was named the Offensive Rookie of the Month of October and garnered other accolades (don't forget he turned down the chance to participate in the Pro Bowl games and put that on his resume), but the most telling statistic was of the collective kind: wins.

"Many quarterbacks have become top-tier passers after benefiting early in their careers from elite coaching and defenses," Manzano wrote. "And many others ended up being average quarterbacks, which is not the worst thing in a league that struggles to find 32 competent QBs."

Nix won 10 games as a rookie, and while he did benefit from a top-10 defense that also led the league in sacks and featured the eventual Defensive Player of the Year in Patrick Surtain II, the national outlets expressing misgivings over his 'franchise quarterback' worthiness are many of the same who wrote last offseason about how lacking Denver's supporting cast at the skill positions was.

If the Broncos had no talent at wide receiver and running back, how do they explain Nix's accomplishments? I digress.

The bottom line is, in order for Nix to convert everyone into full-blown believers nationally, he has to become a star quarterback in a Conference absolutely littered with them.

"The Broncos did plenty right last season, but they might need Nix to become a star QB to become serious contenders in the loaded AFC," Manzano wrote.

Circling back to Payton, it could be that Manzano's coach source is onto something. After all, Payton made more money than he'll ever need during his coaching tenure in New Orleans.

The money is great. And the Broncos are paying him very, very well. But we know that it's not why Payton chose to return to the coaching ranks.

He's driven to win another Super Bowl. And if this anonymous former head coach is right, there are other sub-objectives built into Payton's pursuit of another Lombardi Trophy: turning Nix into a star and proving he can reach the top of the NFL mountain again without Brees.