The mood in the Denver Broncos locker room on Sunday following the team’s playoff-clinching win over the Kansas City Chiefs was jubilant. Tones of triumph, relief, elation… the Broncos embodied it all and for understandable reasons.

Denver snapped its eight-year playoff drought, finishing the 2024 regular season 10-7. But before the Broncos could get into game-planning mode for the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard Round, head coach Sean Payton finally gave fans a glimpse of the post-game locker room scene at Empower Field at Mile High.

For the first time this season, the secretive and protective Payton allowed the cameras in for his post-game locker room speech.

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You can see how excited and greaful Broncos CEO and co-owner Greg Penner was as he greeted the players and coaches at the door, exchanging hugs, fist-bumps, and words of encouragement. We learned from Coach Payton at the podium that his game balls went to the Walton/Penner ownership group.

“The game balls today went to ownership,” Payton said on Sunday. “They’ve been tremendously supportive. Man, I’ve been to a number of pro teams, but I told the players, you don’t get to pick a lot of times where you end up, but you guys are in a good spot. This is a group that cares about you.”

Payton has often talked about how big of a selling point the Walton/Penners were in his decision to come out of retirement and take the Broncos job. They rewarded Payton with a lucrative contract and traded a first and second-round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints to acquire his coaching rights.

Payton knew the long-standing tradition of winning in the Mile High City and was well aware of the legacy created by all-timers like John Elway, Peyton Manning, Mike Shanahan, and late owner Pat Bowlen, but in his NFL experience dating back to the ’90s, he believed that the caliber of a team’s ownership group is one of its predictors of the future.

“In today’s pro sports, I think it’s probably one of the bigger indicators of success,” Payton said of ownership. “I know for me, personally, when I went through this process, that meant a lot to me relative to where, and I said that it wasn’t like I was looking to choose to join Patrick Mahomes in this division, you know? But the ownership group here was the reason. They got the game balls.”

Kudos to Payton for relenting and acquiescing to the cameras being the locker room following Sunday’s win so that Broncos Country can partake in the message and the celebration. Now it’s on to Buffalo.

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In an op-ed published in the Colorado Springs Gazette, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman accused Denver Mayor Mike Johnston of not being truthful about how migrants, including Venezuelan gang members, ended up in Aurora.

Coffman said he filed an open records request that shows Johnston used the cover of non-profits to quietly dump migrants in other cities.

Johnston denied the allegations, stating,  “The City of Denver never places anyone anywhere.” 

Johnston said he was blindsided by the op-ed that included a headline claiming, “Denver’s Mayor offloads immigrants on Aurora.”

“I’m surprised by this because Mayor Coffman and I have a collaborative relationship,” Johnston said. 

According to Johnston, Denver contracted with two non-profits to find housing for migrants after more than 40 thousand of them were bussed here from Texas last year.

“We give them dollars and they decide on housing,” Johnston said. “Every day it’s looking for where that housing is and identifying what open unit it is. You might go to Thornton, you might go to Northglenn, you might go to Denver.”  

Mayor Coffman said one of the non-profits worked with a landlord to place migrants in three apartment buildings in Aurora, where police say Venezuelan gang members terrorized residents. The incidents there drew the attention of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to carry out mass deportations, or what he calls “Project Aurora”. 

Coffman said Johnston has refused to say how many migrants were placed in Aurora, so he filed an open records request to obtain the contract the city signed with the nonprofit. He said the contract included a clause allowing the agency to put migrants in other cities without notifying them.

In his op-ed, Coffman said, “Aurora has suffered from a national embarrassment that has harmed the image of our city in a way that could have lasting economic consequences. As the Mayor of Aurora, I’m asking that Mayor Mike Johnston be transparent and tell the truth about what he did.”

Johnston said he bears no responsibility for what’s happened in Aurora, “We run the City of Denver and he runs Aurora and they control the outcomes in their city. We control the outcomes in ours. We’re responsible to our voters and he’s responsible to his.”  

Coffman said the nonprofit is required to report to city officials how many migrants are placed in other cities, but he says Johnston continues to dodge the question about how many migrants were sent to Aurora.

President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20th. His Border Czar has said he will prioritize the deportation of migrants who’ve committed crimes.

In November, Johnston told the Denverite he would resist all deportations. He now says he will cooperate with federal immigration agents in deporting violent criminals.

Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph could return to the NFL head-coaching ranks.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Monday the New York Jets have requested permission to interview Joseph for their HC vacancy. It’s uncertain as of this writing whether that permission was granted.

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Joseph, 52, is expected to be a hot name in coaching circles after Denver led the league in sacks and placed third in points allowed during the regular season. Under his tutelage, cornerback Patrick Surtain II earned his third Pro Bowl selection while outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, a first-time Pro Bowler, finished third in quarterback takedowns (13.5).

The Broncos’ defense also ranked within the top-10 in several other categories: rushing yards allowed per game (third), red zone percentage (third), total yards allowed per game (seventh), and interceptions forced (ninth).

Joseph was hired by Broncos coach Sean Payton in 2023 after serving four years as the Arizona Cardinals’ DC — and before that, Denver’s HC from 2017-18.

“He’s smart, he’s a great communicator, he’s got a very calm, I would say strong, voice. Man, his players play extremely hard for him. He’s been a great addition to our staff,” Payton told reporters Monday.

“I think Vance is going to be a head coach again.”

Joseph isn’t the only member of the playoff-bound Broncos staff to begin garnering outside attention; NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported that senior personnel executive David Shaw will interview for the New Orleans Saints HC position.

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