Patrick Sean Payton just went all Ralph Waldo Emerson on the Broncos. Who knew he is emulating a 19th century-type essayist?

“We can write down our goals and dreams, and we can recite them, and then you have to live them,” Payton philosophized to the press. Sean has become more folksy, affable and cheerful this training camp – perhaps because his owners and general manager are signing veterans to big-ticket item contracts; a new headquarters is under construction, and the players are playing proficiently.

Livin’ the dream is the coach’s and the players’ objective this season. The carrot-and-stick motivation is Super Bowl LX. The Broncos last won Super Bowl L.

Denver, though, is provided just a puncher’s possibility at 30-1.

But the Broncos seek to prove themselves, and Payton craves to prove himself again.

Nobody remains on the Broncos roster from Super Bowl 50. Michael Burton is the lone player in camp who possesses an NFL championship ring with the Chiefs. Dre Greenlaw has appeared in two Super Bowl losses with the 49ers, but was forced to leave the second with a non-contact torn Achilles. Talanoa Hufanga was with the 49ers for their last Super Bowl, but injury forced him to miss the postseason. Mike McGlinchey also started on the San Francisco team that fell to the Chiefs, and Johnn Franklin-Myers was a rookie when the Rams were defeated in The Large Game. That’s all.

Payton owns a championship ring from Super Bowl XLIV when he and the Saints upset Peyton Manning and the Colts. Peyton won two championships, including the one in 50 with the Broncos. Payton is dreaming of his second, too – with the Broncos. This is his third chance here, but his first real opportunity.

After his surprise decision to onside kick to start the second half and the eventual 31-17 triumph in the Super Bowl, Payton was considered the consensus No. 1 NFL coach in 2010. Throughout the 2010s and the early 2020s he would be second for four seasons in head coaching rankings behind Bill Belichick, and in the top five for all the years prior to his “retirement” from New Orleans despite not going back to the Super Bowl. He was an elite and creative offensive coach.

However, following a year as a TV analyst and upon his return to coaching the Broncos in 2023, Payton’s luster had been dulled and his status slipped because of his absence and his assuming control of a longtime lousy franchise. NFL authorities ranked Sean as low in the league as 18-20.

Yet, before Payton’s arrival in Denver, Broncos head coaches Vance Joseph and Vic Fangio annually from 2017-2021 slotted 25th to 30th. Nathaniel Hackett was evaluated 31st in ’22 and did not last the entire year.

Payton’s position in the premier tier has been replaced by younger successful head coaches, two others also named Sean – McVay and McDermott – and the Harbaugh Brothers – John and Jim – and former fellow head coach Mike Shanahan’s son Kyle and Payton’s ex-player and assistant Dan Campbell. Andy Reid appropriately is regarded No. 1 in all recent lists because of his achievements with the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Payton & Pete (Carroll) must show something special once more in their comebacks.

The elder statesman Shanahan still is waiting unfairly to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with two Super Bowl victories as a head coach and another as 49ers offensive coordinator.

It should be noted that one ESPN story last week picked Payton and his coordinators as sixth overall heading into the season, but Sports Illustrated, no longer a serious authority, has Payton-Bo Nix 14th in coach-quarterback duo ratings.

If Payton is to receive rankings reverence he once relished, the Broncos must win 11-12 games, challenge the Chiefs for first in the AFC West and advance beyond a wild-card playoff game. And if Payton someday figures into the Canton candidacy conversation, he will have to stay in Colorado longer than his five-year contract (which concludes after the ’27 season) and win at least two Super Bowls with Nix and the team that that the Broncos’ leadership triumvirate has assembled.

The coach can write and recite, but he must live the dreams … and fulfill them.