Training Camp Takeaways: Sean Payton Is in Uncharted Territory With Bo Nix

We’re nearly two weeks, and now 13 teams, in on my annual NFL training camp tour. Obviously, there’s plenty to get to this week …

This is a new experience for Sean Payton. I looked this up before I visited Denver Broncos camp, and thought it was pretty remarkable—over 26 seasons coaching in the NFL, this will be the first in which he’s been part of drafting a quarterback in the first round.

In Philadelphia, he had Randall Cunningham, Rodney Peete and Bobby Hoying. In New York, it was Kerry Collins. In Dallas, it was Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe. Of course, in New Orleans, nearly his entire run was with Drew Brees. So this experience, starting from ground zero with such a high pick, is a new one for the veteran coach.

The difference, Payton told me, comes with the “expectations that early in the process” for a young guy. The good news? Nix has those expectations for himself. And Payton has bigger expectations for him, too, than most of the NFL did in April.

In fact, Payton told me that he had Nix and one other quarterback as the two in the top tier of the NFL draft.

“My evaluation of him, I was so much different in where I saw this list [of quarterbacks],” Payton says. “We spent a ton of time on all these guys. You trust your evaluation and you hope you’re in a position to draft a player. Let’s not worry about where we’re taking him. Let’s worry about where he’ll be in three years. … Is it different coaching a first-round pick? Yeah. It’s different in that sense of when you take someone at 12, [it’s different than] when we signed Brees from the Chargers. That was an uneventful signing.”

Point being, the idea for Payton is to coach the position the same way he did when he welcomed Brees to New Orleans in 2006. And that, obviously, starts with who is actually going to play quarterback for the Broncos in ’24.

The baseline here would be Nix’s readiness for the job, given his record 61 starts as a collegian, a strength going into the draft.

“It still has to be what’s best for this team to start the season,” Payton says. “Now the good news is he’s coming in and really opened it up. You talk to defensive coaches or anybody that’s been at these practices like, Holy cow, this guy can get the ball down the field. This guy’s got really good arm talent. It’s just getting acclimated to the calls. [And to complement that], there’s so much he can do off-schedule.

“When we watched his tape, the pockets in our league are dirty, and a lot of the times quarterbacks need a full stride. He’s one of those guys that can take a real short step. He made a big throw the other day with a short rusher.”

He’s also gotten it done in the classroom, as part of a really impressive rookie class (we’ll have more on that later in the takeaways, and also in the Tuesday notes) in Denver. Ex-Oregon teammate Alex Forsyth, who’s battling to be the Broncos’ center, told those in the building in the spring that his buddy would be able to handle a lot when it comes to protections and checks, and that’s proven to be true—with Nix, through extra hours of work, now able to teach back some of the things he’s learned to his young teammates.

The other day, Payton did narrow most of the first-team reps to Nix and Jarrett Stidham, though he did tell Zach Wilson that he wasn’t out of the competition. So that would indicate that Nix’s path to the starting job is there. But Payton was clear he won’t rush it.

“We’re not there yet with the quarterback, relative to who’s going to be the starter,” he says. “Trust in the process and letting it speak to you is important.”

For his part, though, Nix’s actions have already spoken loudly.

While we’re here, let’s give you a quick check-in on the other five first-round quarterbacks.

• Caleb Williams has had the standard rookie ups and downs, but is pretty far ahead at this point, in large part because of the plan the Chicago Bears laid out for him. They put in formations, cadence and terminology with him before the draft—in their allotted three one-hour Zoom sessions—and Williams used the 40 days between OTAs and camp (we’ll have more on that soon on the website) effectively. He’s the starter, and I’d bet he’ll play well as a rookie.

• Jayden Daniels has hit all the markers the Washington Commanders had for his progress. Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t want to preach competition and open it up at every position just to hand a rookie the quarterback job. But the overwhelming likelihood, especially with how the scheme should help highlight Daniels’s strengths, is that he is the guy. Getting to see him run the operation in a preseason game probably helps get Washington there. What the Commanders already know is that the 23-year-old’s work ethic and ability to retain information is elite, which sure is a good starting point for a quarterback.

• Drake Maye has had rough moments, to be sure, but New England Patriots people attribute that to him running with the second team, and how the team’s offensive line depth issue has really shown up with that group. What’s impressed his coaches most is how good of a processor he is on the field—he can go, in his progression, from one to two to three fast, and even threw a touchdown pass to his fourth read in red-zone drills the other day. He sees things right away, and his footwork has come a long way, too. That said, to this point, Jacoby Brissett has been the best quarterback in camp.

• Michael Penix Jr. has been impressive in Atlanta, particularly while he’s run the second-team offense against the first-team defense. He’s come along fast with the operational elements he had to learn, getting guys in and out of the huddle, and he’s getting a better feel for progressing to the backside of some of the Falcons’ new passing concepts. What Atlanta can already see is his ability to push the ball down the field. Those there say he’s giving the team a handful of wow throws every week.

• J.J. McCarthy, unsurprisingly, has shown himself a fast study. The accuracy and arm the Vikings saw on tape are there, as are the intangibles—his work ethic in particular. That said, Minnesota is still working through his fundamentals and footwork in accordance with their scheme, and that, again, as expected, is taking some time. So progress is coming steadily, but Minnesota’s been pretty committed to its plan to bring McCarthy along step by step, with Sam Darnold still taking the majority of first-team reps (and showing the arm talent of a former third overall pick) and giving them the flexibility to sit the rookie, if that’s what’s best. Also big for McCarthy’s development (and Darnold’s, too)? Getting to face Brian Flores’s varied defensive scheme in practice every day.

Matthew Stafford is in a great place. The day I was there, the Los Angeles Rams’ starting quarterback looked slimmed down and happy. Once we started talking, I also found a guy who was pretty grateful for where he is after going through injuries the past couple of years.

In 2022, there was the elbow condition and a season-ending back injury. Last year, he felt good again, and then injured his thumb. So, now, he’s just happy to be feeling good again.

“Being healthy is a great thing,” Stafford says. “When your brain tells your body to do something, and it does, it’s great. When it can’t, because of one thing or another, that’s tough. Getting out there and playing and doing all that kind of stuff, [and] finally feeling good again being able to do all that stuff [last year] was great. Halfway through the season in the Dallas game, I thought I was done for my season, maybe career, depending on what it was going to look like under imaging.

“Lucky enough that it was mild enough to where I could splint it [thumb] for six games after that and work my way through it. It was a couple scary moments.”

The silver lining in those moments, of course, was the added perspective he got. And, yes, you read that right—there was, for a minute, a point when he thought his career might be in jeopardy in the middle of that game against his hometown team.

“I was on the sideline thinking [it was a] pretty good chance it was,” he says. “Physical examination was not pretty. I’d just fought back from something else, and having to deal with that now is tough. Luckily it was good enough to just treat and manage and let my body heal and splint it for games. I was able to play good enough for a little bit to keep us in it.”

So how will this relate to the Rams’ season?

What I saw out in L.A. was a team with renewed energy and expectation. Last year, the Rams took on $75 million in dead money. They played a lot of young guys. They came out the other side with—for the first time in forever—a full complement of draft picks and a clean cap situation, plus a talented young core to build around.

Stafford’s right in the middle of all of that and, I think, primed for a very big year with Cooper Kupp finally healthy, Puka Nacua back, the backfield loaded and the line fortified with big-money guards Kevin Dotson and Jonah Jackson (though Jackson will be out a while with a scapula injury). The day I was there, you could see the rapport between Stafford and Sean McVay between plays, and how they were correcting and tweaking on the fly, which you’d expect as they enter Year 4 together.

Stafford, of course, would be the first to say all of that guarantees a whole lot of nothing.

But I think it does give these guys a really good chance to get back to the sort of stage they were on when the quarterback first arrived in Los Angeles in 2021.

I try and use my ears more than my eyes during camp. The reason: I’m in for one practice. I don’t want to overreact to that one day and it’s most important to get as much context as you can in these places, even moreso the deeper you get into camp. So here are 10 things I’ve heard through my trip …

1) A couple of folks mentioned to me there’s been a push among owners to stop paying massive dead money on coaching contracts—Josh McDaniels and Matt Rhule, for example, both had more than four years left on their deals when they were let go. Which certainly makes you wonder if that played a role with Mike McCarthy’s situation with the Dallas Cowboys, or in so many assistants being sent into contract years this fall.

2) There’s also some on the team side wondering if the NFLPA has pushed for mid-contract stars to be more forceful in asking for raises. It’s worked thus far for Stafford, Christian McCaffrey and Travis Kelce, with Trent Williams and Matthew Judon among those still working to get theirs.

3) I wouldn’t count Justin Fields out of becoming the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers quite yet. Fields has played well, and new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has a really long history of coaching effectively around the blind spots of physically gifted quarterbacks. So the longer Russell Wilson’s injury woes linger, the wider the door opens for Fields, who’s a strong program-personality fit for the Steelers, to eventually become the guy.

4) Aidan O’Connell came into camp leading Gardner Minshew II for the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback job—which is when new coach Antonio Pierce challenged both guys to seize the spot, and told them he’d make a decision as soon as one made it clear he was the guy.

5) While we’re there, and while there’s always couching when it comes to comparing any receiver to Tyreek Hill, Raiders folks talked about second-year man Tre Tucker like he has that kind of explosiveness and could add that sort of element to their offense.

6) Kenneth Walker III is about to have a very big year with the Seattle Seahawks.

7) Ditto for D’Andre Swift in Chicago.

8) The hire of defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has proven to be a good fit for the Green Bay Packers edge players, who’d been playing standing up in the base 3–4 the team had run for years. The expectation is Rashan Gary will really benefit from being down in a four-man front and, on the inside, Devonte Wyatt should, too.

9) Bryce Huff is going to be a monster for the Philadelphia Eagles. And the reason I’d say that is because of how hard it was for the New York Jets to lose him, even with their wealth of pass rushers. Internally, he was widely considered their most natural rusher. The void he leaves also adds pressure to working something out with Haason Reddick.

10) The San Francisco 49ers are going to get their money’s worth from Javon Hargrave this year. The big-ticket defensive tackle went through a lot last year, not the least of which was losing close friend and ex-Browns DL Chris Smith. He’s in a much better place a year later and, San Francisco thinks, ready to be a force next to Nick Bosa.

If you want sights, sounds and scenes from my trip, we have 10 plays, plotlines and other things that got my attention through 13 camps. And I really had to narrow this one down for everyone …

1) Cowboys corner DaRon Bland’s interception on the day I was there was the perfect illustration of how he became the NFL’s pick-six king in 2023. His timing and anticipation in jumping in front of receiver Tyron Billy-Johnson, waiting just long enough to bait Dak Prescott into the throw, and then his awareness to spring to his feet and start running was fluid and, really, flawless. Trevon Diggs’s absence early in camp only cemented the belief in Dallas that Bland’s big year was no fluke.

2) Los Angeles Chargers players working the flip sleds—weighted sleds that basically work for players as the old-school method of flipping massive tires—for about a half hour after practice on the first day of camp. You can see it happening in the background of my one-on-one with Jim Harbaugh, and it was a pretty good illustration of the tough, rugged team he’s trying to build to mirror the teams he had at Stanford, San Francisco and Michigan.

3) The pace of the Rams’ practice. We mentioned earlier how more teams are trying to callous their players, and there’s no question that McVay’s group is in that category, with new offensive assistants Mike LaFleur, Nick Caley and Ryan Wendell having brought a more physical edge to the scheme last year. To some degree, my feeling is it’s been a response to how the 49ers have out-toughed the Rams at points in the past. Having LaFleur, a longtime Niners assistant, has helped.

4) Seahawks receiver Jake Bobo made the best catch I’ve seen in camp, and it happened about 20 yards from where I was standing—full extension, diving, and all in one motion. I don’t know if he’ll have a roster spot with the new group there. But the UCLA, Duke and Belmont Hill (look it up) product has continually shown up the past two years.

5) Speaking of Seattle, one thing that was interesting was seeing Mike Macdonald’s program compared to what Pete Carroll had ingrained there over 14 years. Practice was longer, and it looked like there was more teaching on the field—Carroll always preferred to go fast on the field, and make corrections in the classroom.

6) Gassers after a long practice in Denver, which I saw for the second consecutive year. There’s still plenty of Bill Parcells’s philosophy in Payton.

7) The Detroit Lions’ kicker woes. I wouldn’t be stunned if Detroit goes outside for help at that position because that was the one flaw I saw in an otherwise crisp, smooth session.

8) Marvin Harrison Jr. Everything looks effortless. Even in a simple pat-and-go drill, something he’s done since youth ball, and the way he glides, and doesn’t give away where he’s going, and gets his hands up late to pluck the ball away, makes it look like he was born to play the position (which he kind of was).

9) How locked it is at Raiders camp. Their Orange County hotel is secured to the hilt (you can’t go into the lobby if you’re not a registered guest). Their practices are closed to the public. So Pierce’s desire to get a sequestered, it’s “just us” feel to his first camp as a head coach? He has it.

10) Dontayvion Wicks made a spectacular catch in a two-minute drill on a ball that Jordan Love fit between Eric Stokes and a safety. It was a great reminder of how heated the competition for snaps and the ball will be among Green Bay’s young receivers, with Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and camp standout Romeo Doubs in that mix.

And while we’re on that theme … We’ve got 10 rookies for you to get excited about that may be a little more under the radar (so, as a rule, no first-rounders here).

1) Chargers linebacker Junior Colson, who played for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, already looks like a key piece in their defense. Playing next to a guy with the experience of Denzel Perryman doesn’t hurt, either.

2) The Cowboys lost center Tyler Biadasz in the offseason, and Brock Hoffman has been first up to replace him. But third-round pick Cooper Beebe’s been impressive, and has lodged himself into the competition.

3) How the New Orleans Saints defensive line comes along will go a long way in determining how their season plays out, and sixth-round pick Khristian Boyd’s made a play to be in that mix as a big body who can play on all three downs.

4) Dominick Puni, the Niners’ third-rounder out of Kansas, has gotten reps with the first-team offense at guard, and has played well enough to make some with the team think he’s going to force his way into the starting lineup.

5) Denver took the fifth-round tailback with the bad 40 time based, in part, on analytics that had him at the top of his class in 15-yard-plus runs, yards after contact and avoiding negative runs. What they’ve gotten in Audric Estime is a wrecking ball of a runner, who they’re planning to play in a real role. We can double up on the Broncos—Denver had a second-round grade on Nix’s top receiver from Oregon, Troy Franklin, and was stunned to see him there in the fourth round. He’s validated their grades thus far.

6) Marvin Harrison Jr. and Darrius Robinson’s length and strength have stood out in Arizona, but everyone there is just as excited about second-rounder Max Melton. There’d be no one surprised in Arizona if Melton, a feisty, physically-impressive rookie, develops into a No. 1 corner down the road.

7) You can group Packers safeties Javon Bullard and Evan Williams together. Both came from big-time programs with defensive-oriented head coaches (Bullard with Kirby Smart at Georgia, Williams with Dan Lanning at Oregon), and both have shown a rare aptitude for a position that demands that of its players.

8) Detroit Lions second-round corner Ennis Rakestraw Jr. has been a ballhawk early in camp, forcing his way into the equation with Carlton Davis III and first-rounder Terrion Arnold, and helping ensure the team is going to be a lot better at the position.

9) The Bears do have a pass-rush need, and fifth-round pick Austin Booker, another Kansas product, is showing he may well be positioned to fill it. Long, strong and instinctive, the Bears bet on his upside. He may get to where they’d envision he could faster than even they thought.

10) That third-rounder Blake Corum will be a contributor for the Rams probably won’t surprise many people. But he should only add to the more physical run game they built last year, with Kyren Williams as the bellcow. Those two guys put together will, for sure, wear on defenses.

I find two things fascinating about the Tyreek Hill deal with the Miami Dolphins. The first is that the phony year on the back end of the original contract—he had $45 million tucked into 2026—became useful for the team and Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus. The second is that, all of these years later, he remains one of one.

Let’s dive into both aspects of the deal.

• Prior to the restructure, Hill had $87.7 million left on his existing contract. The trouble was, he was getting less than $20 million this year, and just under $23 million next year. So the big number on the back end allowed for Miami GM Chris Grier, chief negotiator Brandon Shore and Rosenhaus to move money around.

He now gets $54 million fully guaranteed, and $55 million total, over the next two years, which is a raise of more than $12 million for that time. Then, there’s an $11 million injury guarantee for 2026, which vests early that year. And that fronts a total for ‘26 that’s now in the mid-30s, and no longer unrealistic—it’s pretty feasible, in fact, that Hill could wind up playing for that total, presuming he’s healthy and still running like he is now.

That it got done without a holdout or much acrimony is notable, too. Hill, for his part, will have made $106.5 million fully guaranteed cash between 2022 to ‘25, which is a record for his position.

• Ever since Hill burst onto the scene with the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL teams have been scouring the college ranks to find the next version of him. Such has been his impact on the league.

That search has pushed guys such as Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Henry Ruggs, Jalen Raegor, Jaylen Waddle, Kadarius Toney, Jameson Williams, Zay Flowers and Xavier Worthy up the draft board. Some have worked out. Others haven’t. Interestingly enough, perhaps the one that’s come closest to adding the lightning-in-a-bottle element Hill brings is his own teammate, Waddle. But no one has really touched the impact that the original makes so consistently.

Which, to me, is why Miami’s trade for Hill looks so good two years later, and why head coach Mike McDaniel jumped out of his seat when Grier told him it was a possibility in the first place. There really is no one else quite like him.

One thing that’s very clear to me through 13 camps—most teams are trying to callous their players again. For years now, as improving sports science has provided teams with more and more information, we’ve seen practices get shorter, hitting in camp get deemphasized, and players get paced to the season.

It feels to me like this is the summer all of that got flipped on its head.

Now, to be clear, no one’s running the Junction Boys out there. But there are certainly more two-and-a-half hour practices, more intensity, and more contact than I’ve seen in the recent past, and I think there’s good reason for it.

First is the obvious, which is that teams take from teams that are winning at the highest level. The four coaches in last year’s conference title games—San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, Detroit’s Dan Campbell, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Kansas City’s Andy Reid—all run tough programs with challenging training camps. So I don’t think it’s a coincidence that others would look at those four and want to borrow from them.

Second is there is actual data that shows that injury rates are better for teams that hit in camp. Denver is one team that has proof. Last year, in Payton’s first year, the Broncos hit more and practiced longer, and their rate of games lost to injury plummeted from where it was after a lighter camp in 2022. The idea, as I’ve heard it, is that while you may lose more guys in the summer if you work this way, you’ll lose fewer in the fall with a team that’s better prepared to hold up under the brutal rigors of the NFL season.

For what it’s worth, I attended a Parcells-style Payton practice last week, one that stretched over 150 minutes, and wrapped up with a set of gassers on a near-100-degree day.

“Sean really tests you,” All-Pro corner Patrick Surtain told me. “As far as today, obviously, we had a longer team period. We had like 14 periods [total]. Each player has four reps each and it’s all repetition. And no matter what it is, if you get a go-ball as a DB, you’re back out down the field, even if you’re tired. Those certain things have people conditioned for the season. So once the season come, you like, OK, I’m already used to this because I already got the right amount of reps for these situations.”

And also, they believe, the right types of reps for the season.

(I’ll be interested to see if the trend holds next year.)

Maybe the question I’ve fielded most over the past couple of months, both from people inside and outside the league, is when the NFL is going to 18 games. My stock answer: There are opt-outs in broadcast deals after the 2029 season, and I strongly believe that, when the NFL goes to negotiate a new set of deals ahead of that, they’ll want to go to market with the 18-game schedule to sell.

That said, NFL players should not go quietly on this one, and they need to listen to guys like Bucs linebacker Lavonte David.

“I’m going to straight up say I hope it don’t happen,” David said on The 33rd Team podcast. “The season is already long as it is. The 16-game season was long as it [was]. Even though it is just one more [game], it would feel like five more. It’s a physical game, football. … That’s a lot of added stress to the body. Me, personally, I hope it don’t happen. Maybe I’m not in the league when it does happen.”

David knows. It’s not just adding a game. It’s adding a game on the back end of a grueling schedule, when the damage taken of a full NFL season is cumulative.

So here’s my message to players: Don’t use the offseason work rules as a bargaining chip. Owners don’t care about that. Cutting weeks off the offseason program for most owners is an opportunity to shut the lights off, not something that they’d be hurt losing (did they mention you’d have to pay for your own training in the spring then?). Instead, think bigger. Ask for guys to get to free agency after three years rather than four. Get them to make it more difficult to franchise tag players. Demand lifetime health insurance.

There’s an opportunity here for the players to create some real change. Regardless of whatever spin is put on it, adding an 18th game to the schedule would be significant in how it affects guys’ ability to make it through a season and, over time, their ability to make it to a point where they can monetize their success. It’s also something the owners really want.

It’d be a shame if the players didn’t make them pay for it.

I may be alone here, but I see the Aaron Rodgers–Garrett Wilson squabble as a good thing. The thing about camp is that we get to see so much, and there are eyes on everyone. So this idea that people should be holding hands and singing songs is absurd to begin with.

But in the case of Rodgers and Wilson, I think having those heated moments is natural, and the way teammates should work things out—direct and to the point.

That’s why I loved the quote I saw from Robert Saleh in Rich Cimini’s Sunday story.

“I’ve heard stories of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady—not to compare them—but it’s the same thing,” the Jets coach said. “The expectation and the standard is high. As a quarterback, he’s trying to operate at a certain level of efficiency, which means people around him need to be efficient at the same level. When he’s not feeling that as a group’s leader and voice, he voices his opinion.”

Now, to be clear, some of the criticism of Rodgers this offseason has been fair. But in this case? It’s ridiculous. We know where Rodgers’s standard is. In my experience, Wilson is the same way. So these things are going to happen. And in the long run, they’re a good thing.

And finally, we’ll give you some quick-hitters to go out on …

• I had one veteran coach say to me this week that the new kickoff is the biggest change he’s experienced in all of his years in the NFL (I won’t give you the number, but it’s a lot of years).

• My take on the Sunday Ticket verdict is that the judge is doing what judges do—trying to force a settlement. I’ve covered more court cases than I care to remember in 20 years covering the league, and one thing I’ve learned is that judges always want these things taken and handled out of court, if at all possible.

• The loss of Justin Herbert, I think, will be challenging for the Chargers, in that losing physical reps in Year 1 of a new offense would be tough for any starting quarterback. That said, Herbert’s really sharp, and that staff’s creative.

• What an awesome scene, seeing the 1985 Bears huddling around Steve McMichael’s bedside in suburban Chicago.

• Tristan Wirfs is worth every penny of the $28.1 million-per-year deal he got from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

• While we’re there, the Lions’ aggression in doing deals with Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown certainly has had an impact on teams such as the Buccaneers. And no one more so than the Niners, with Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams still out of practice looking for deals.

• That Jason Kelce was offered a job with the Philadelphia Eagles reminded me about how smart the franchise is with these things. Another such hire a few years back was Connor Barwin, who has since been put in a position to oversee the back end of the team’s roster, which gives the team a much better shot to keep developing guys, once the season starts, that aren’t playing as much.

• Is this the year George Pickens puts it all together? Were it not for character and injury questions, there’s a good chance Pickens would’ve been a top-10, maybe even top-five draft pick in 2022. So the ability is, and always has been, there.

• Great to see the Cincinnati Bengals build a new locker room for their players, which comes on the heels of getting a practice bubble, signs that the team is investing back into the guys who wear the uniforms more than it ever has before.

• Denico Autry is a significant loss for the Houston Texans. But in a weird way, a six-game PED suspension might actually benefit the Texans in the long run, in that it might give them a 30-something who’s fresher for the stretch run and, presuming they get there, playoffs.