A new article from Seth Wickersham of ESPN takes a look at Broncos coach Sean Payton’s hectic week before the AFC Championship. While taking a look at it, one thing stood out.
After the Patriots fired coach Bill Belichick following the 2023 season, Payton (who had just finished his first year with the Broncos) “considered suggesting” to owner Greg Penner that Payton would step back to the position of assistant head coach, running the offense. Belichick would hold the job until he won 15 games, breaking Don Shula’s all-time record of 347.
Belichick has 333 total wins, 14 behind Shula. (As regular-season wins go, Shula has 26 more than Belichick: 328 to 302.)
Wickersham explains that, "[i]n the end, it was too complicated — and maybe too fanciful.”
It was, as we understand it, Payton simply thinking out loud. It would have been practically impossible, but he at least formulated the thought out of his respect for Belichick.
Ultimately, it may have been the only way for Belichick to catch Shula. With only one NFL interview in three hiring cycles (including a 2026 turnover that had 10 open jobs), Belichick’s NFL door seems to be closed.
In November 2025, Von Miller said he didn’t regret choosing the Commanders over the Seahawks. He declared at the time he’d make the same decision “10 times out of 10.”
He probably wouldn’t make it 11 times out of 11.
Appearing on the 89 podcast with Steve Smith and James Palmer, via Jacob Camenker of USA Today, Miller said of his decision: “Obviously, I picked the wrong team on that one.”
Although some are aggregating the quote in a way that frames it as a diss of the Commanders, the sentiment would have applied to any of the other 30 teams in the NFL. With a choice between the Seahawks and any other team, the Seahawks were the right call.
But, as always, hindsight is 20/20 vision.
“For me, with the Washington Commanders, I just felt like Jayden Daniels was poised for another great season,” Miller said. “His rookie season went all the way to the NFC Championship, and last year, he got hit with injuries, not just at the quarterback position, but all over the place. And those are some of the things that you just can’t calculate on teams.”
Miller now laments the fact that he missed the chance to win three Super Bowls with three different teams. He won a ring (and the Super Bowl MVP award) with Denver in 2015. Six years later, he won a second ring after an in-season trade to the Rams.
To Miller’s credit, he didn’t agitate to be traded or released once it became clear that the Commanders weren’t going to get back to the playoffs.
His plans for 2026 remain unknown. He said in January he’d like to stay in D.C.
In March, Miller said he’d like to return to the Broncos, if he doesn’t re-sign with the Commanders. In late May, Miller was lobbying for the Broncos.
Hopefully, he won’t have two options again — if the one he doesn’t pick ends up winning the Super Bowl.
The Broncos showed how much they think of cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian by using a second-round tender on him as a restricted free agent. He will make $5.767 million on his one-year deal this season.
His long-term future with the Broncos appeared in question, with Marvin Mims Jr., Riley Moss, Ben Powers, Evan Engram and Brandon Jones among other high-profile players entering the final year of their contracts.
The Broncos had not started contract talks with McMillan’s camp as of June, per Zac Stevens of DNVR, but coach Sean Payton left no doubt about the team’s intent to keep McMillan long-term.
“Absolutely,” Payton said, via Stevens. “The ball finds him. We keep talking about taking it away. We even forget Buffalo on the road, Monday night [in] ’23. The first series of the game, ball’s out, and he’s causing a fumble. He’s just around it all. That’s not just good fortune. That’s the skill set.”
Since 2023, when he earned a bigger role, McMillan has six interceptions, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Two of his interceptions were pick-sixes. He also has seven sacks, 16 tackles for a loss and nine quarterback hits.
“He has all the things you’re looking for,” Payton said. “Like when I say grit, chip on his shoulder.”
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
As Netflix expands its NFL footprint to include a full five toes of NFL games in 2026, it’s hoping to enhance its desire to “eventize” football with some normalcy.
Elle Duncan of Netflix tells the Sports Media Watch podcast that the studio show for the games will have the same people involved.
“We’re not doing an 18-game slate,” Duncan said, via Derek Futterman of Sports Media Watch. “We want every single one of our events to, yes, have a through-line and some consistency, and you’ll get that with the desk and the talent, but, ‘How are we making each one of those things feel special and different and honor where we’re doing it at?’”
Netflix will stream the Week 1 game from Australia between the 49ers and Rams, the Thanksgiving Eve game between the Packers and Rams in L.A., two Christmas games (Packers-Bears and Bills-Broncos), and a Saturday afternoon game to launch Week 18.
Officially, Netflix doesn’t aspire to have a full, season-long NFL broadcast package. However, with its current arrangement in place through 2029, Netflix could eventually decide to make a bid on one of the various weekly windows.
