Broncos owner Greg Penner backs GM George Paton and coach Sean Payton after playoff heartbreak

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Denver Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner expressed confidence in general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton as he took stock of a fruitful season that came up short after quarterback Bo Nix broke an ankle in the playoffs.

“We’d love to have both of them here long-term,” Penner said. “I think the partnership they’ve created and how they work together is very complementary.”

In their three years working together, the Broncos have improved from 8-9 in 2023 to 10-7 in 2024 and 15-4 this season, which included a divisional-round win over Buffalo and a 10-7 loss to New England in the AFC championship with backup QB Jarrett Stidham under center.

Paton has one year left on the six-year deal he signed in 2021 and Payton has two seasons left on his five-year deal

“In terms of the contracts, those are things that we’ll always deal with on a personal basis and in private,” Penner said.

The Broncos tied a franchise record with 14 wins in the regular season and beat Buffalo in overtime for their first playoff triumph since Super Bowl 50. But Nix broke his right ankle on the game-winning drive and gave way to Stidham on Sunday, when Payton's fourth-down gamble ahead of a blizzard helped derail their Super Bowl dreams.

“Obviously the result on Sunday was disappointing and not what we were expecting,” Penner said. “The finality of it is tough. This is our fourth season and two going out in the playoffs. It hits you pretty hard. That being said, I thought it was a pretty unforgettable season that we’ll look back on. There were a lot of successes.”

The Broncos had six All-Pro players, produced an 11-game winning streak and reestablished a strong homefield advantage, going 9-2 at Empower Field at Mile High.

“The main message is that we are not satisfied,” Penner said. “We know that we have a lot of work to do. We have obviously made a lot of progress in the last four years, but we are going to work our tails off this offseason and come in next year ready to go."

Unlike some other owners, Penner isn't one to publicly delve into the team's football decisions.

“I’ll leave the specifics of where we fell short to our coaching staff and front office because that’s their job and that’s what they do really well,” Penner said. “The process we’ll go through in the next couple weeks: We’ll start the evaluation of our roster, evaluating our coaching staff. You’ll have some natural attrition where coaches can have other opportunities and then we make some changes that we feel are in the best interest of the organization.

“Then we evaluate our roster and our system and come away with some absolute needs and then wants and address that through free agency, trades and the draft.”

The Broncos are finally going to be out from under the record $85 million in dead cap charges from Russell Wilson's release, and the Broncos' new $175 million state-of-the-art headquarters and training facility is due to open this spring and serve as another draw for free agency along with a franchise quarterback and a thriving GM/head coach relationship.

“We’ve got some great folks in place, including the coach, GM and quarterback,” Penner said. “That gives you a chance every year to be successful. Obviously, you’ve got to build out the rest of the roster in a meaningful way and have the best players you can at every position. The way we look at it from an ownership perspective is we have to provide the resources and set the expectations really high and then we’re going to hold people accountable.”

As far as free agency, Penner said, “We’ll definitely take an aggressive approach, but we’re also not just going to bring in somebody that’s not right for this locker room. There’ll be a lot of factors that we consider. I’d say we’ll be opportunistically aggressive."

Penner said if Sunday's blizzard happened on gameday in 2032 he would close the roof, confirming the organization is “evaluating retractable roof options” for the new stadium in downtown Denver.

Skies were clear at kickoff for the AFC championship but it quickly got cloudy and a blizzard arrived after halftime, making it difficult for players to make cuts and for fans to even see the action on the field.

“In this case, we would’ve likely closed it ahead of time, given both the temperature and the potential precipitation,” Penner said. “That being said, who knows if that would’ve had any outcome on that either way? This would’ve been more around — just, what was good for the fans. Because that was pretty rough.”

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