Broncos coach Sean Payton has a better chance of being hilarious on “Hard Knocks” than being victorious in a playoff game during the 2024 NFL season.

I kid you not.

But let’s hope Payton does indeed possess a healthy sense of humor we’ve yet to see, because a young quarterback this team needs could well be available with the second-round pick in the draft that the Broncos don’t own because they traded it to the New Orleans Saints for Payton.

You must remember this: Long before he surrendered 70 points to Miami or benched Russell Wilson, Payton poked fun at the New York Jets for appearing on “Hard Knocks,” the television series that takes fans behind the scenes with a pro football team.

Now Payton wants us all to believe he left the door open to Wilson’s return to the team during his end-of-season exit interview with a veteran quarterback he could barely tolerate.

“Otherwise,” Payton insisted, “it would have been like, ‘Hey, goodbye.’”

Really? Those words might be a strong contender for the funniest ever uttered by Payton during his tenure as coach, with one possible exception.

About five seconds after he dumped Wilson for “Sparky” Stidham during the holidays, Payton conveniently forgot his disdain for the NFL’s version of reality TV, all because his ego was dented by criticism for a move nobody in their right football mind believed would make the Broncos a better team.

“I think it’s part of the deal, and I understand it,” said Payton, who wants us to believe he has been miscast as a grumpy old man. “I get it. It’s the only thing that makes me once in a while want to do ‘Hard Knocks.’ There’s a perception. That would be the only reason to get an inside look as to this whole ‘old school’ approach. Shoot, you don’t do this this long if you’re not adjusting, funny, creative — all those things. I think I am all those things.”

Well, we’re fixing to find out.

For the good of the Broncos, Payton now needs to do something never previously required of a veteran coach with 160 regular-season victories on his NFL resume.

He won big in New Orleans with Drew Brees, who’s bound for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And he clashed loudly in Denver with Wilson, who also has a real chance to be enshrined in the Hall.

Payton, however, has never been forced to exercise the patience needed to develop a young quarterback.

While swallowing all of the dead money from the regrettable contract extension given to Wilson, the Broncos could settle for Stidham, or shop in the bargain bid of the veteran free agent market for Gardner Minshew, Sam Darnold or Drew Lock.

Truth be told, maybe Payton could coax the Broncos to the playoffs with a journeyman quarterback running the offense. But Denver isn’t getting back to the Super Bowl that way.

And ever since Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset after his last rodeo at Super Bowl 50, hasn’t this franchise already wasted enough years trying to slap a Band-Aid on its problems instead of making a commitment to a meaningful rebuild?

The sight of Payton carving down his offensive game plan at 2 a.m. to accommodate the limitations of a rookie quarterback would make for compelling TV on “Hard Knocks.”

With the 12th overall pick in the first round, the Broncos might get lucky and have the choice of young quarterbacks among Michael Penix Jr. of Washington, J.J. McCarthy of Michigan or Bo Nix of Oregon.

But it would be far gutsier if Denver decided to trade back from No. 12, gambling it could still land a young QB and add another pick in the process.

If Payton lost patience with Wilson, I fear the steep learning curve of a rookie quarterback might cause him to lose his mind.

All evidence aside, your fearless leader of the Broncos is both relentlessly innovative and hilariously funny, if Payton does say so himself.

But if he can’t effectively develop a young quarterback for the first time in his NFL career, the joke’s on a grumpy coach from the old school of hard knocks.

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