If everything is as it should be in the Broncos’ new alternative football universe, Sean Payton will go back to New Orleans twice two seasons from now. 

The Broncos coach can stay in his Four Seasons condominium high above Canal Street overlooking the French Quarter.

Broncos to hire Sean Payton as next head coach

The Broncos will go marching in to play the Saints in a 2024 regular-season game.

Super Bowl LIX (Licks?) will be Feb. 9, 2025, at the Superdome.

Two weeks ago, I wrote in The Denver Gazette that Payton was “The Fixer – the right man to fix the Broncos.”

On Jan. 18, I followed with a column stating: “Greg Penner is balls-out and all in on Sean Payton. Broncos CEO and Walmart board chairman Penner has said he has ‘got to get this right.’ That’s why he must hire Sean Payton.”

William Shakespeare had the scoop in 1623 when he wrote: “All’s well that ends well.’’

The panic attack among Broncos’ followers in Colorado and parts unknown and in the local and national media can be halted.

Penner got it right Tuesday. He hired The Fixer as the Broncos head coach. The offensive wunderkind can fix Russell Wilson and what’s wrong with the Broncos.

I was told Monday by a sound NFL source elsewhere that “everybody will be happy.’’

It’s a Hallelujah Hiring!

What They're Saying: Broncos hire Sean Payton

The late Pat Bowlen would be thrilled. In 1995, the late Mr. B chose the right man, Mike Shanahan, and won two World Championships in 1997-98. In 2009, he didn’t get the man he wanted: Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. The man he got stuck with is currently a coach somewhere. Three more Broncos coaches since 2017 were losers.

That’s the reason Penner and the small search committee including his wife, Carrie Walton Penner; general manager George Paton; minority owner partner Condoleezza Rice; and lead shareholder Rob Walton sought an experienced NFL winner, not a first-year head coach, who won a Super Bowl in 2009 (over Peyton Manning’s Colts) and 161 overall regular season and postseason games in 16 seasons. He won nine playoff games, one more than Shanahan (20 years as a head coach) and had a .631 regular season winning percentage (compared to Shanahan’s .616 in Denver). 

Payton’s last game in Denver was a victory over a team without its three quarterbacks.

Penner, et al., fixated first on Payton and Jim Harbaugh, who were 1-2 or 2-1. Nobody so far will say which was which, but Penner’s group twice reached out to the Michigan coach, who had reached the Super Bowl with the 49ers (and lost to his brother John Harbaugh of the Ravens). When Harbaugh, who had a strong Stanford connection with the Penners and Rice, didn’t finish the deal either time, the Broncos concentrated on Payton, who is a football analyst for Fox Sports after taking a sabbatical from the NFL.

The Payton Problem was he still had a contract with the Saints, and the Broncos were forced to make a trade for his release. They eventually gave up the 29th pick in the ’23 draft and a second-round choice in ’24. They will receive a third-rounder next year. The draft-drought Broncos, who also have salary cap issues, must have the best that Payton has to offer.

Paul Klee: By hiring Sean Payton, Broncos try to buy their way back to NFL relevance

However, the new coach obviously has the support of Wilson, who spent his worst career season with the Broncos under Nathaniel Hackett. Payton has stated that Wilson can become a quality quarterback again.

Wilson reached out to Payton while Sean was interviewing the Broncos. Another matter was an erroneous national report that Payton had a power struggle with a member of the search committee. However, Payton tweeted that the account had “no truth’’ and the Broncos’ ownership was “fantastic’’ in the Los Angeles meeting.

The Walton-Penner ownership may pay Payton $100 million over several years. They have the money.

It’s been claimed that Payton already has put together a preferable coaching staff that includes Vic Fangio (who also is negotiating with the Dolphins).

No matter what the third football leader with the Broncos whose name is pronounced Payton does in his first season in Denver, the Broncos are in a reconstruction era.

But, by 2024, Sean Payton will prove Thomas Wolfe wrong and return to his home in New Orleans. Then again for a Super Bowl at the Superdome.