Sean Patrick Payton is a football coach from America. He is the head coach for the Denver Broncos in the NFL as of January 2025. He is also a former Quarterback. Born in San Mateo, California, United States on December 29, 1963, Sean Payton played football as a Quarterback during his university days. He has also played as a Quarterback in the Arena Football League (Chicago Bruisers), Canadian Football League (Ottawa Rough Riders) National Football League (Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints) and UK Budweiser National League (Leicester Panthers). As a coach, he won Super Bowl XLIV with the New Orleans Saints.
As a head coach, Sean Patyon has established a win-loss record of 170-105 with a win percentage of .618 in the regular season. For the postseason, he has a win-loss record of 9-8 with a win percentage of .529 as of January 11 2025. (via Pro Football Reference)
Teams Coached by Sean Payton
In his years of experience as a coach, Sean Payton has trained both college and NFL teams. Here is a summary of the teams that he has coached till now.
College
Sean Payton started his coaching career with college football. In 1988, he joined San Diego State University as an offensive assistant and continued the position till 1989. He was also the running backs coach at the university from 1992-1993. From 1990 to 1991, he served as the running backs and wide receivers coach at Indiana State.
From 1994-1995, he was at Miami University as an offensive coordinator. Then, he became the Quarterbacks coach at the University of Illinois in 1996. In 2012, he coached the Liberty Christian Warriors as well. During his college coaching career, he prepared footballers like Marshall Faulk, Deland McCullough and Scott Weaver among others.
Philadelphia Eagles
Sean Payton made his NFL coaching debut with the Eagles in 1997. He helped in coaching and developing the Quarterbacks of the team from 1997-1998. At the time, he cooperated with John Gruden, the offensive coordinator and Bill Callahan, the offensive line coach.
However, both John Gruden and Bill Callahan departed from the team in 1998. Simultaneously Ray Rhodes, the head coach of the team at the time was let go. New head coach Andy Reid did not want to retain Payton on his team. Hence, he was let go from the team as well.
New York Giants
The New York Giants brought Sean Payton in as the Quarterbacks coach in 1999. Moreover, he was promoted to be the offensive coordinator in 2000. His coaching and guidance helped the New York Giants to reach the Super Bowl XXXV and represent the National Football Conference (NFC) at the event. Sean Payton eventually departed from the team in 2002.
Dallas Cowboys
He joined the Dallas Cowboys as an assistant head coach in 2003 under Bill Parcells. He was responsible for improving the offensive unit of the team. He changed their Passing offense from being ranked 31 to being ranked 15 in the league. He also helped the team to sign Tony Romo in 2003.
Sean Payton’s capabilities as an assistant started to increase in 2004. The Dallas Cowboys took advantage of the situation and decided to retain him as the assistant head coach as well as the quarterbacks coach. Bill Parcells also made him a Passing Game Coordinator in 2005.
New Orleans Saints
Sean Payton started his head coaching career with the New Orleans Saints in 2006. He led the team to the first playoffs in six years. However, in the 2006 playoffs, they lost to the Chicago Bears with a score of 39-14. Despite this, Payton received the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award in 2007. Under Payton, the 2009 NFL season proved to be the most successful for the New Orleans Saints as they had a win-loss record of 13-3. They even went to Super Bowl XLIV and defeated the Indianapolis Colts with a score of 31-17, and became the NFL Champions.
He signed a 5-year extension of his contract in 2019. After the 2021 NFL season, he received interest from many teams but he announced his retirement in January 2022. However, he came out of retirement and signed with the Denver Broncos in January 2023.
Denver Broncos
Payton joined the Denver Broncos as head coach in 2023. In Week 18 of the 2024 NFL season, under his guidance, the Broncos secured their first playoff berth since 2015 with a 38-0 victory over the Chiefs. This win also marked the team's first winning season since 2016.
FAQs on Sean Payton
A. Sean Payton’s age is 61 years as of January 2025.
A. Sean Payton has been working as a coach for almost 27 years in the NFL.
A. Sean Payton won Super Bowl XLIV.
A. Sean Payton is the head coach for the Denver Broncos as of January 2025.
