Sean Payton explains decision to trade for Zach Wilson

Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos made one of the more interesting moves of the offseason in the NFL, trading for embattled New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson.

Since being drafted by the franchise with the No. 2 overall selection, Wilson has been fighting to prove he was worthy of leading the Jets into the future. That all changed when New York traded for Aaron Rodgers, and even after the veteran’s injury, Wilson couldn’t lead the Jets to the playoffs last season.

Now, he’s receiving a fresh-start with the Broncos, under the tutelage of a head coach who’s been somewhat of a quarterback-whisperer over his time in the NFL. Ahead of Wilson truly finding himself in Denver, Payton took some time to explain what went into trading for the former No. 2 overall pick.

“We just felt like, ‘Man, we’d love to work with this guy.’ It wasn’t too long ago, we remember grading him. Felt the investment was worth it, relative to his skillset and his talent,” Payton explained, regarding the former BYU star quarterback. “So it took awhile. We spent the better part of a month and a half working on that trade.”

Over his time with the Jets, Wilson played in 34 games, including 12 this past season with 11 starts. Statistically, 2023-24 was his best, completing 60.1 percent of his passes for 2,271 yards and eight touchdowns with seven interceptions.

Those numbers aren’t exactly gaudy, but it’s not like the Broncos gave up a ton for Zach Wilson. We’ll see if the quarterback can save his career in Denver, and shock the league in the process. Stranger things have happened in the NFL.

More on Denver Broncos’ QB situation

They say if you have two quarterbacks, you really have none. But consider that the Broncos are splitting their QB reps three ways. And Jarrett Stidham, who ended the season as the starter, doesn’t plan on giving up the job.

He said as much this week as the Broncos started phase three of OTAs. There’s Stidham. Denver traded for Zach Wilson, the former starter with the Jets, for the bargain-basement price of a seventh-round draft pick. 

And finally, the Broncos used the 12th pick of the NFL Draft to nab Bo Nix from Oregon. He was the sixth QB off the board in what was a record-setting draft for the position. To add to the Denver intrigue, Nix was Stidham’s successor at Auburn before the quarterback left the Tigers and transferred cross country to Oregon. There, his college career blossomed.

Stidham is the old guy of the group. He’s 27. So he has the benefit of experience in dealing with quarterback competitions.

“I’ve dealt with this before when I was in New England with Mac Jones,” Stidham said, “It’s a business and I totally understand it. But at the same time, I’m here to compete. I’m not going to just sit down and let someone else walk in here and [just take the role]. I’m going to work my butt off to get the job. (And) I’m super excited about it.”

At the moment, Payton is telling reporters that all three Broncos quarterbacks are doing well, so it remains to be seen if anyone separates themselves moving forward.

“Look, we go by what we see,” Payton said. “We try to get them as many reps as possible. We’re rotating all of them right now. … We’ll keep doing that right now.”

On3’s Suzanne Haliburton contributed to this article.