Sean Payton is back in the role he knows better than almost anyone on the Broncos sideline, but this version of the job comes with a wrinkle he’s been openly wrestling with: age.
In an ESPN piece about his postseason preparation, Payton put it plainly. “Playcalling is harder at 62 than at 42,” he told ESPN. “As you get older, maybe you don’t like driving in the rain at night.”
That’s the balancing act now. Payton is taking over as Denver’s primary play-caller again after four games in which the Broncos averaged 16.75 offensive points per game while ranking 27th in total offense, 26th in success rate, 24th in yards per play and 21st in EPA per play.
He’s not pretending this is a young man’s assignment. On Thursday, when the idea of play-callers in his age range came up, Payton answered, “I think I’m still one of them.”
He’s right, at least by the numbers. The average age of an NFL offensive primary play-caller is 44 years and nine months.
Only three are older than Payton: Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Frank Reich of the New York Jets and Pittsburgh’s Mike McCarthy, who is 49 days younger than Payton. Only five offensive play-callers across the league are older than 52.
Nineteen of the 32 weren’t even born when the Broncos traded for John Elway in 1983, and 14 are 40 or younger.
Payton has talked before about what changes when the job gets done later in life. Before the Broncos’ playoff game in January, he said, “The thing that I have to continue to - that changes as you get older - is, you still have to be quick,” Payton noted nine months ago. “Like, play just ran, boom, next play.”
The challenge, though, isn’t just pace. It’s what happens in the space before the call. Payton said earlier this year that age can make a coach think through every possible ripple effect instead of simply trusting the call and moving on.
“When I was younger, we’d run a reverse on the 8-yard line and I’d think nothing of it,” Payton said. “And as you get older, you think about all the ramifications … and so, I have to also remove that.
“It was said, ‘As you get older, maybe you don’t drive in the rain at night,'” Payton added. “I can’t let that happen as a play caller, and … that’s something that I have to mentally make sure it’s quick, it’s quick and decisive, and it’s daring at the right time.
“… Those are things that I find that are challenges compared to when I was 33 in New York or in my - whatever.”
Payton stressed that this isn’t about being careless. He traced part of that caution to the way he was raised.
“Part of that is being raised by a father who was in casualty claims and insurance,” Payton said.
“We had no trampolines; we had no swimming pools; we couldn’t ride motorbikes; we knew where every sharp edge was and it was like, ‘Aahh.’ But anyway, I think that’s the thing that I’ve got to focus on.”
Now that he has taken back the play sheet, that mindset may matter as much as any scheme. Experience can help, but Payton knows it can also slow a coach down if he lets too much of his own caution take over.
As he approaches his 63rd birthday in December, that’s the line he’ll be trying to walk. And the Broncos’ season may end up riding on whether he finds the right side of it.
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