Sean Payton isn’t entertaining the idea of the Denver Broncos becoming “sellers” before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, and that stance makes plenty of sense.
Denver sits at 6-2 and in first place, so the conversation around the team has naturally drifted toward whether the Broncos should swing big for outside help. Payton didn’t close the door on the “buyers” label, but he made it clear that moving useful pieces out of the building is not on his mind.
“Well, we’re a team that’s playing better, so we’re not looking to sell," Payton told reporters following Wednesday’s practice.
That matters because Denver doesn’t have an obvious trade chip in the way some other teams do. The Broncos’ most valuable pieces are players on expiring contracts, including wide receiver Marvin Mims, cornerbacks Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian, safety Brandon Jones, offensive guard Ben Powers, tight end Evan Engram, and backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
Payton isn’t eager to tear into that group, and he framed the league’s trade market as a simple split between teams on the rise and teams headed the other way.
“I always think there’s buyers and sellers, right?" Payton said Wednesday.
"It’s probably more noticeable in the last five years than maybe in our… Or at least I notice it more. Teams that are playing well are the potential buyers.
The teams maybe that aren’t are the potential sellers.”
For Denver, the math is straightforward. The Broncos are sitting in the No. 2 seed in the AFC and appear to be in position to grab the AFC West again. In that spot, dealing away starting-caliber players for a future pick would be a hard sell.
That’s especially true with players like Moss, Jones, McMillian, and Mims, all of whom are meaningful contributors. Swapping one of them for something like a fourth-round pick would not carry nearly the same value as keeping the roster intact through the rest of the 2026 campaign.
So while fans may be hoping for a splash, the quieter move might be the smarter one. In a wide-open AFC, the Broncos have little reason to hand away pieces that are helping them win right now.
The decision process is still active, though, and Payton said he and general manager George Paton are in regular contact as the deadline approaches.
“We would meet and meet in the evening. The early part of it, all the GMs, they all talk with each other, but he and I’ll visit daily," Payton said.
"So it’s not like it’s consuming two hours. His group is spending a lot of time separate from the time that I’m involved with our group.
In other words, they’re doing their evaluation, we’re doing football, but he and I daily will visit about a bunch of things.”
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