LB discusses how Sean Payton improved Broncos culture despite controversy

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton continues to generate headlines due to recent controversial comments but remains a hit inside his own locker room. 

"It's just the culture, and the way people walk around," linebacker Josey Jewell recently told ESPN's Dan Graziano about how Payton improved the Broncos' culture from last season. "You can tell. It's just an aura you can feel when you walk in. And we'll see how that goes throughout the season and all that, because we've only been here for a small amount of time, and it's hard to base it all off that. But we're looking forward to it."

The Broncos hired former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as their head coach in January 2022 but then dismissed him last December shortly after Denver fell to 4-11 via a 51-14 defeat against the Los Angeles Rams. Last week, Payton helped create a new AFC rivalry when he said that Hackett, currently the offensive coordinator with the New York Jets, was responsible for what "might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL" last year. 

Payton has since expressed regret regarding those remarks, but that didn't prevent Jets players such as quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Allen Lazard from offering public responses to the 59-year-old coach. Jewell instead focused on how Payton has altered Denver's understanding of what is and isn't acceptable even during practices. 

"If he sees something wrong, he'll have the offense come back, or if they're too slow off the break, stuff like that, which is great because it just makes us understand that culture change so much more if we see it done right away," Jewell added about Payton. "Like, 'Let's get in contact here and make sure we're not making mistakes.'"

The Broncos host the Jets in Week 5 on Oct. 8 in what's already become one of the most anticipated non-divisional games of the first half of the 2023 season. How Jewell and his teammates perform that Sunday afternoon may say plenty about Denver's culture at that stage of Payton's first campaign in charge with the organization.