There’s just something different about the way Sean Payton builds a team. It’s not flashy. It’s not numbers on a spreadsheet. It feels like it’s written in ink, not in code. While some other front offices chase 40-yard dash times and TikTok clips, Payton chases the real football spirit. But why and where does it all start? Well, the answer is his High school!

Like almost every football story. No stats. No stardom. Just belief. And somehow, that quiet chapter from a high school sideline still feels alive in the Broncos’ locker room today. Still shaping the way his team is being built. To understand what Sean Payton really wants in his players, let’s take a close look at the Broncos’ NFL 2025 draft class. You’ll notice a pattern.

First-rounder Jahdae Barron from Texas. Second-round RB RJ Harvey out of UCF. Third-round WR Pat Bryant from Illinois. DE Sai’vion Jones (LSU), OLB Que Robinson (Alabama), P Jeremy Crawshaw (Florida), and TE Caleb Lohner (Utah). Seven picks, six of them stuck with one school their entire college career. No hopping around. No portal pit stops. Just loyalty!

Why does it matter? Because in a college football world where over 4,000 players hit the transfer portal after the 2024 season, only 61%, per 2022 stats, find a new team. And that’s why Sean Payton made a choice. He wants guys who stick it out. Who grind. As his old high school teammate Mark Bittner put it, Payton “like guys who didn’t take the money and ran to another college as soon as they hit adversity.” That’s not just a draft philosophy. That’s his story. Benchwarmer. Backup. Underdog. Then starter. Then Super Bowl champ.

And Denver walked the walk. PFF gave the Broncos high marks, especially for their Day 1 picks, and CBS Sports ranked their entire offseason fourth-best in the league. Deserved. Skipping through the shiny transfer names and betting on guys who stuck it out in college wasn’t some dice roll, it was a very clearly laid out. A mindset. Less gamble, more gospel.

The other offseason moves backed that same philosophy. Denver re-signed lineman Matt Peart, brought in running back J.K. Dobbins, added high-ceiling safety Talanoa Hufanga, and picked up tight end Evan Engram, who fits that reliable Drew Brees-era mold. None of it screams headline grab, and that’s exactly the point. This team isn’t chasing flash. It’s stacking loyalty, toughness, and veterans who have been through it.

This will make all the more sense when we dig into Sean Payton’s high school roots.

How Naperville Still Lives in Sean Payton’s Coaching DNA

We all know Sean as one of the most prominent football minds in the world. But where did it all start? Naperville, Illinois, on the kind of practice fields where the grass stains your socks and the bleachers creak when parents show up on Fridays. That’s where a quiet, scrappy kid sat behind another quarterback for most of his junior year.

Payton didn’t walk into high school as the star. Far from it. He spent most of his time on the bench, backing up his coach’s son, quietly waiting for a chance that felt like it might never come. And when the chance came in his senior year, he capitalized. He threw for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns in 1981, carrying Naperville Central to a 9-2 record. “I knew every diagram in the playbook, and I loved to analyze game films when I went home at night.” That mentality? It stuck with him and it shaped into everything that we see today.

He doesn’t make it back to Naperville much these days. His parents are gone. Coach J.R. Bishop passed three years ago. But that place still means something to him. His old teammate and close friend Mark Bittner remembers one summer in 2009, when Payton flew in on his private jet just to surprise the Naperville Central football team with a halftime pep talk.

That night, he slipped out of the Lantern bar the same way he might’ve back in the 80s—quietly, through the side door, once people started to recognize him. He had an NFL roster to cut the next morning. Iconic! And even if Payton’s not chasing credit, his mark on Naperville is still there. Well, just not in flashing lights.

The scoreboard at his old high school stadium? He paid for that. But the name on the donation isn’t his. It just says: “Class of ’82.” No headlines. No plaques. Just a quiet thank-you to the field where everything began.

Even a thousand miles out, you can tell Naperville’s still with Sean Payton. It’s in the way he coaches. The way he builds a team. He bets on loyalty, toughness, and the ones who hang in there when things get hard. Just like he did back then. So now, every time you see him signing a player, you would know: he probably sees himself in him.