Report: Payton, Broncos to Face Saints in 2025 Preseason

Though "meaningless" it may be, the preseason affair will mark the second return to New Orleans in as many years for Broncos (and former Saints) head coach Sean Payton. The clubs met during the 2024 regular season, with Denver winning in a blowout, 33-10, on national television.

The victory meant that Payton officially beat all 32 NFL teams throughout his Hall-of-Fame-caliber coaching career, which included a 15-year stint in the Big Easy. He remarked after the game that “I don’t think this is the last time that I am ever going to coach in this place" — but also the juxtaposition in doing so.

“It means you’ve had two jobs," Payton said. "Someone brought that statistic up and we were trying to guess who was on that list. Someone had brought it up yesterday or the day before. We don’t think about things like that, but I know you had to have worked at two different organizations to do it. I’m glad I am here.”

The trip down south for Denver bookends a West Coast road matchup against the San Francisco 49ers to kick off the preseason, a brief glimpse at the Broncos' starters and more detailed look at their reserve units. A second preseason game will be sandwiched in between at Empower Field at Mile High.

Following that, the Broncos will finalize the 53-man roster before kicking off the regular season at home against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2:05 p.m. MT.

Denver, ascending off its first playoff appearance in nearly a decade, was awarded three primetime tilts as well as a game in London against the New York Jets and a Christmas Night showdown with the rival Chiefs in Kansas City.

"We embrace them," Payton said last week of the Broncos' loftier 2025 expectations. "The schedule comes out here in a few days. There will be a few more [primetime] TV games. It’s part of the deal, and you get comfortable doing it. It’s a lot better than the alternative. That’s what you want. It’s one of the things that’s attractive about coaching or playing here, is the history. I think if you’re a competitor, that drives you.”