We expected Sean Payton and George Paton to be frenemies.

We were wrong.

Heck, in the beginning, nearly three years ago, this relationship of the P&P Boys seemed doomed to end with them PO’d with each other.

Instead, the coach and general manager of the Broncos have become brothers in orange.

It might be the most unlikely bromance in recent NFL history.

Payton and Paton.

This wasn’t supposed to work.

Yet here the Broncos are. In first place of the AFC West. With a 6-2 record. Looking at the looming trade deadline from a position of strength. Buyers if they want to be. No longer sellers out of necessity as penance for the sins of past roster mistakes.

How did we get here, with these two architects of a revamped Denver roster on the same page, rather than at opposite ends of a pink slip?

Paton and Payton.

When Payton was hired early in 2023 at great expense, not to mention the cost of a first-round draft pick sent to New Orleans in trade, his relationship with Paton could’ve been a soap opera that ended badly for one of them.

In fact, at the time, I would’ve bet on it. 

The NFL is a small fraternity, but these two guys didn’t really know each other.

Fair or not, the fact that Paton was burdened by his association with the hiring of inept coach Nathaniel Hackett and the disastrous trade for quarterback Russell Wilson seemed to doom the relationship between this coach and general manager to failure.

It could’ve been a clash of conflicting visions and a crash of inflated egos.

Instead, this odd football couple has not only made it work, but remade a long downtrodden franchise into a playoff contender that does Broncos Country proud.

How the heck did that happen?

“They’re both really talented and experienced at the jobs they do,” Broncos co-owner and CEO Greg Penner told me during an interview back in September. “It took a little bit of time. But they pretty quickly developed a rapport and trust in each other.”

Payton and Paton. 

Their surnames sound the same.

The coach and general manager of the Broncos, however, couldn’t be more different in their approach to their respective jobs.

Payton is out front and in your face with everything, from planting the Compete Street sign on the practice field to regaling everybody in the Broncos organization with favorite football stories he tells until everybody knows every detail by heart.

Paton works primarily in the shadows. He’s a grinder, not a yapper. I’ve seen him burn with competitive passion. But when the GM walks through the Denver locker room after a game, it’s often difficult to tell from his stone-cold poker face whether the Broncos won or lost.

Paton and Payton.

Sounds like a law firm. Or the accountants who do your taxes.

Why does this football partnership work?

“Their styles and approach to football are very complementary to each other,” Penner said.

Payton and Paton mirror the no-excuse mentality that new ownership brought to a franchise that had forgotten how to win.

It would’ve been easy for new ownership to sit on their Walmart family billions or show too much deference for the way Pat Bowlen established the team’s championship way of doing business.

Greg and Carrie Penner, however, are stubbornly insistent on shaking the status quo and pushing the envelope in the relentless pursuit of new and better ways to succeed.

The massive error of giving Wilson a $245 million contract extension in 2022 could’ve condemned the Broncos to mediocrity for years.

But the no-excuse attitude of the Penners allowed them to swallow their pride and eat an expensive mistake on Wilson, then task Paton and Payton with building a playoff contender ASAP in spite of hefty salary-cap limitations.

In Pat Surtain II, Paton gave his incoming coach the invaluable gift of pro football’s premier shutdown cornerback.

Together, they got down and dirty in the trenches, building one of the stoutest offensive lines in the league.

The sin of Wilson was forgiven when the gamble on Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick in 2024 paid off almost immediately.

Betting heavily on the health of safety Talonoa Hufanga and running back J.K. Dobbins in free agency has infused the Broncos with a toughness that will serve them well during rough-and-tumble tussles in the January cold.

The relationship between Paton and Payton has grown in the same manner as the rebuild of the Broncos’ reputation as a legitimate contender.

One brick at a time.

So here’s a toast to both the coach and general manager for doing the heavy lifting.

Payton and Paton.

No one will ever mistake them for brothers.

But nothing can build a brotherhood like the sweat of shared success.