Broncos getting stripped for a total rebuild would be ownership’s call — not Sean Payton's

Back in July, the first question for Denver Broncos team owner and CEO Greg Penner would hover over everyone in the franchise, from head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton, to quarterback Russell Wilson and beyond:

What were the expectations for the team in Year 2 of his stewardship?

Straight up, no frills, right to the point. It was the kind of question that many hoped would elicit a simple response that could be measured fairly quickly. And in that moment, Penner obliged by not making his aim complicated.

“Well, one expectation is that Year 2 will be a little smoother than the first year,” Penner said. “… Our expectations for this year are [to] set really high expectations, work hard every day to get better, good product on the field. Something that our fans can be proud of.”

The response was light, airy and purposely vague. The kind of thing you say when you’re a customer guy — a Walmart guy. After a down year, promise a better product and a better experience, always keep an eye on the paying consumer. Make their shopping experience happy, keep them loyal to the brand. Expect them to keep score when it comes to what you’re offering and whether the purchase was worth their time and money.

And when that goes wrong, be prepared to make necessary changes.

After Thursday night’s 19-8 road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Broncos have equaled their worst start in franchise history at 1-5. They’ve now lost 16 in a row to their hated divisional rivals, which feels even longer when you consider the historical contexts. It has been three presidential administrations, four Taylor Swift boyfriends (plus Travis Kelce, since their dating status remains unofficial), five Broncos head coaches and a pandemic since Denver last beat Kansas City. Peyton Manning was still the Broncos’ starting quarterback and Patrick Mahomes was a sophomore in college. That’s a lot of futility to swallow, particularly when 2023 doesn’t seem to be all that different than 2022. Apart from one thing, that is.

Penner already has that awful 2022 experience in the bank. And it’s going to impact a lot of decisions if this direction continues.

Consider the early failure of many of Penner’s baseline of expectations right now: Year 2 has not been a little smoother; high expectations surely are not being met; it’s not a good product on the field; and judging by almost any measure used to listen to the attitudes of Broncos fans, they are not proud of where the franchise is. And even if you were to only focus on Thursday night’s loss, the best thing you could say about Denver is that it found a different way to lose a game than we’ve been accustomed to seeing this season.

But while we’ve all been so focused on Payton and what he has to say about all of this, that vantage has to begin to shift toward a more expansive question: What is Penner going to do about all of this?

As a customer-focused CEO who spent years learning the ins and outs of selling products, something is still not working in Denver. And it’s once again directly under the nose of a team owner who kicked off his Broncos tenure espousing the importance of people shaping culture, expectations followed by accountability and resources producing results.

If that’s still the foundation, the infrastructure built on top of it right now seems incomplete and dilapidated. We’re seeing it in the win-loss column. We’re seeing it in the offensive and defensive game plans, which have yet to play a game hand-in-hand. We’re seeing it with some once-valued players who appear to be regressing. And now we’re seeing it in roster changes with veterans that appears to showcase a lean into at least some kind of rebuild.

In fairness, we’re six games into a terrible start. Many franchises have picked themselves up from this point and even this record, managing to at least find a groove of respectability by the end of the season. Maybe not a late playoff push, but at least enough wins and progress to suggest that the early pain was subsiding into some new growth. If the Broncos represent that kind of team, you’d look at the loss to the Chiefs and suggest that moving on from Randy Gregory and Frank Clark helped start that process. But you’d also have to trouble yourself with explaining the offense, which very easily could have been held without a touchdown if it hadn’t been for Courtland Sutton's circus catch.

Therein lies the rub for Penner. What about this team is real and salvageable right now? Are the right coordinators in place? Is this version of Russell Wilson sustainable for his level of paycheck? What level of accountability for any of it — or all of it — falls onto Payton or Paton? And how informative will the next two games be when it comes to trade deadline consideration? Penner will get one more look at Mahomes before the deadline, and if the Broncos are 1-7 at that point, how long can he tune out the personnel assessments of Caleb Williams, who will be the hammer lock first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and is being billed as capable of reaching the Mahomes tier of quarterbacks?

As much as these are head coach or general manager questions, they realistically elevate to ownership questions when there’s a possibility the head coach and general manager won’t still be paired together in a few months. Given some of the turnover necessitated with Paton’s free-agent signings, it’s fair to wonder who ultimately takes the fall if 1-5 cascades into 2-15 or 3-14 or some other abysmal record. The only thing we know for sure is that it won’t be Sean Payton. Everyone else in a position of authority will be white-knuckling it.

That’s what you get when the boss says Year 2 of his reign needs to be smoother than the Year 1 disaster. Or reminds you that expectations are set high and the customer’s faith in the product will ultimately be bird-dogging the hirings and firings. This is what Penner subscribes to. It’s why he’s the one we should be watching closely the rest of the way.

Six games into Year 2, his promise of a better experience is not coming to fruition. If it continues in this direction, the changes of last offseason will be only the beginning.