Imagine the 2017 NFL Draft is just around the corner. The then-New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton believes Patrick Mahomes is  “the best quarterback I’d ever seen on college tape.” So, why didn’t Mahomes end up in New Orleans? Well, it turns out, per Payton, “it was gonna happen, and then it didn’t happen.” And it was all thanks to the three-time Super Bowl winner’s current team.

In the 2017 Draft, the Saints had the No.11 pick. But the Kansas City Chiefs traded their 24 pick to get to 10 and drafted Mahomes, taking away Payton & Co.’s chance even before it came. Now, following Russell Wilson’s exit, the Denver Broncos are in desperate need of a quarterback to build their team around. With the 12 overall pick in the 2024 Draft, Sean Payton would likely need a better bargain to avoid a repeat of 2017.

Per the DNVR Broncos podcast host, as the Draft gets ever closer, “quarterbacks just keep going up everyone’s boards,” so much so that four of them could be taken in the first six picks. Considering this, they asked NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger: “Is it smart to trade up and give away future Draft capital to get one of these guys if Sean likes them? Or do you think the Broncos are in a position where they need to build a team around a quarterback first?”

Baldinger believes Sean Payton is still mulling over his mistake of not getting Patrick Mahomes; it’s something that’ll stay with him forever. With that in mind, the former offensive lineman said, “He is going to do his very best not to let something like that happen again if he thinks one of these guys is anywhere near what Mahomes is. Or he feels like, ‘I can get what I believe is the best quarterback.’” While he believes anyone other than the Chicago Bears drafting Caleb Williams is out of the question, Payton must trade up for other promising players. Like Jayden Daniels.

As mentioned earlier, it’s paramount to end up with a favorable draft position because, like the Mahomes case, there’s a risk of Payton missing out on a Super Bowl-level quarterback if he doesn’t negotiate with teams like the Cardinals or the Patriots. Per Baldinger, “You’d probably have to get inside the top 5 to get a guy that he thinks is something close to Mahomes.” The Patriots have the 3 overall pick in the first round, and the Cardinals have the 4 overall pick. Hence, Payton will have to go through them if he wants to end up with players who could potentially be generational talents.

But the problem is that top prospects like Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, JJ McCarthy, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels have scouts roaming around them like sharks who’ll take the first opportunity to draft these players. And another problem is how much trading up could cost the Broncos. However, Baldinger feels that if Sean Payton believes one of the players is “the guy” for Denver, he’ll leave no stone unturned to get them drafted. The head coach said something similar himself.

At the NFL Owners’ Meeting, Sean Payton broached the topic of trading up, saying, “I think that’s realistic. What’s hard to predict, though, is what’s on the receiving end. It’s hard to predict what that cost is.” In light of this, Rich Eisen broke down the situation in Denver right about now.

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Eisen’s take on Sean Payton & the Broncos’ quarterback situation

The host of The Rich Eisen Show discussed how difficult it would be for the Broncos to draft a rookie quarterback because Russell Wilson left the Broncos with $85 million in dead money. Eisen explained that moving from the 12 to the 4 pick would be expensive, especially when the Broncos are competing with the Vikings, who have the 11 overall pick. If that No.4 spot is what they’re chasing, wouldn’t the Cardinals think it better to trade with the Vikings as opposed to Denver?

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Another noteworthy thing is that the Broncos don’t have a second-round pick. They traded it to the Saints. At this point, the Broncos might end up taking more cap hits if they want to draft a top-of-the-line quarterback. One thing that was common in Baldinger and Eisen’s analysis was that the Broncos need to be in the top 4 to acquire a promising quarterback or at least be in a position to trade for a veteran signal-caller.

Hopefully for the Broncos, Sean Payton will have more insights from his past experiences to make the new changes.

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