Denver, CO
Keeler: Sean Payton has replaced Russell Wilson as face of Broncos. And he’s not done purging yet. “You have to win.”
You ask if Sean Payton is done, and Roman Harper laughs. Of the Saints the Broncos coach marched to the Super Bowl XLIV, the ones who flummoxed Peyton Manning and the Colts, only six players remained from the roster Payton inherited four years earlier.
“In New Orleans, it was the same,” offered Harper, the SEC Network analyst and ex-Alabama great who played his first eight NFL seasons under Payton in New Orleans. “But he believes in his way. Because if you’ve had success doing it one time when you’re young, you’re going to believe you can do it again.”
Big Easy football icon Deuce McAllister, who’d literally carried the Saints across the line for years, was released after 2008, Payton’s third season as coach. In 2006, Payton’s first season in Louisiana, the Saints were led by a Pro Bowl stalwart who was strong on the field and even better off it, a giving soul who’d visited fans displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The Saints cut him the next March. Joe Horn, meet Justin Simmons.
“I’m not shocked,” Harper told me by phone Tuesday, about the time linebacker Josey Jewell joined Simmons, Russell Wilson and Jerry Jeudy in the Broncos Alumni Club. “I would say this any time a new regime comes in, that none of those things shock you.
“It should put everybody on heightened awareness. It’s about what-have-you-done-for-me-lately. I think (Payton) runs a tight ship. He’s not (just) a players’ coach, so you just have to — he wants the sustained success, so you have to win.”
Of the six Broncos named captains before Week 1 last season, three of them — Wilson, Simmons and Kareem Jackson — are now off the roster. A fourth, Courtland Sutton, recently scrubbed any references to playing for the Broncos off of his Instagram and “X” accounts.
“Then you see somebody like Russell Wilson being let go and still being owed a huge amount of money,” Harper continued. “What it tells you is that the (Broncos) ownership group chose Payton and his future over Russell Wilson.”
Payton’s replaced Big Russ as the face of Broncos Country, love it or lump it. And those who know him best say he’s just getting warmed up.
“Winning cures everything,” Harper said. “So when you don’t win, it’s changes that always happen. Nobody gets to have a non-winning season in the NFL and then change doesn’t happen.”
Harper was part of Payton’s first draft class in New Orleans 18 years ago, probably the greatest one-year haul in franchise history: tailback Reggie Bush in the first round; safety Harper in the second; guard Jahri Evans in the fourth; defensive end Rob Ninkovich in the fifth; and guard and future Broncos offensive line coach Zach Strief and wideout Marques Colston in the seventh.
To hear Harper tell it, Sunshine Sean and Big Russ were doomed from the start. Each was too stubborn, too set in their respective ways, to come around to the other guy’s vantage.
“(Wilson) was just never a natural fit,” Harper said. “Russ likes to cook. It’s more of an off-schedule, roll around a bit (style) … it’s never a 3-step-drop or a 5-step drop-and-throw.
“Although I don’t know what (the Steelers) are trying to run now, but Ben Roethlisberger was never a QB that threw on time, consistently. He was never the 5-step-drop-and-throw (type), the way Sean would would probably love his offense to be run and be coordinated.
“It was a little bit difficult for Russ. So that (breakup) never surprised me.”
As a Bill Parcells disciple, Payton has always been down on free spirits, down on me-first guys. During his first training camp with the Saints, he opened a meeting by putting the names of the 2004 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball roster up on an overhead projector, a star-studded group that included Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, and a teenaged LeBron James, all coached by Larry Brown.
“Look at these players. This is one of the greatest collections of talent ever assembled,” he reportedly said of the Olympians, who lost by 19 to Puerto Rico and wound up with the bronze. “But they didn’t win. They weren’t the best team.”
Winning cures everything. Until that corner turns, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many bodies get chucked under the bus, nobody’s truly safe.
“And so sometimes, you’ve got to go young,” Harper said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to flip a roster upside down to get the results needed.”
Four paths will get you off Broncos Parkway or Potomac Street and onto the Centura Health Training Center campus. But only two roads really count in Dove Valley anymore: Sean’s way or the highway. And ne’er the twain.
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Denver, CO
Packers monitoring their backfield entering key game in Denver
True to form, Jacobs pushed to practice but said team doctors told him to chill and be smart about it. The goal is to reduce the inflammation as much as possible to increase his chances of playing.
In his pre-practice news conference on Thursday, Head Coach Matt LaFleur praised Jacobs for “doing everything in his power to get ready to go.” From his perspective, Jacobs said he feels more relief than frustration.
“I’ve been in this league a long time, and it’s not too much that really gets me discouraged or anything like that,” Jacobs said.
“We still know what’s ahead of us. Now, if we were having this going into the playoffs, it would be a little weird, but at that point I wouldn’t care because it’s either do or don’t. But for me, I know my body, there’s nothing structurally wrong, so I don’t feel like it’s something I have to overly think about.”
If Jacobs can’t go Sunday, Wilson would be in line to make his second NFL start against the team with whom he broke into the league back in 2023.
Signed as an undrafted free agent out of NCAA Division II Fort Valley State (Ga.), Wilson spent just three days with the Broncos before he was released. Ten days later, he signed with the Packers and later made the team’s 53-man roster.
The 5-foot-10, 226-pound Wilson has since rushed for 938 yards and seven touchdowns on 205 carries (4.6 yards per carry) in 37 games, highlighted by a gratifying career day against Minnesota a few weeks ago.
“I still got that mentality to go out there and do it again,” Wilson said. “If (Jacobs) is going, he’s going. If I get my opportunity once again, I’m going to take advantage of it.”
Whoever starts against Denver understands the challenge its defense presents. In addition to the Broncos pacing the NFL with 55 sacks, they also boast a No. 2-ranked run defense that’s allowing just 89.0 yards per game.
Denver hasn’t allowed a running back to gain more than 100 yards since Jonathan Taylor’s 165-yard effort powered Indianapolis to a 29-28 victory in Week 2.
As much as Jacobs enjoys practicing, he doesn’t feel it’s a requirement in order for him to play in Denver. It all comes down to how his body is feeling and whether the team doctors give him the green light on Sunday afternoon.
“I always plan to play,” Jacobs said. “They gotta kinda tell me I can’t play for me not to play. For me, that’s where my head is at, but I’m also realistically just day-to-day right now.”
Denver, CO
Game Thread: Denver Nuggets vs Sacramento Kings. December 11th, 2025. – Denver Stiffs
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Denver, CO
Things To Do In And Around Denver This Weekend – 12/11-12/14 – 303 Magazine
Where: Fight Club – 1959 16th St Mall Denver
Cost: Price varies
The Lowdown:
Guests have the option of $39 bottomless flatbreads, which includes the price of their oche reservation for Social Darts®. The bottomless flatbread menu features Smoked Salmon Flatbread, Four Cheese Flatbread, Breakfast Flatbread, or Garden Vegetable Flatbread. Guests can also order off the á la carte menu, which includes a fresh-cut fruit plate, breakfast sliders,, avocado toast, and Flight Club’s famous churros.
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