NFL insider reveals that the Sean Payton-Russell Wilson saga was worse than we thought for the Denver Broncos

The Russell Wilson-Sean Payton saga was not just a bad breakup, it was a seismic event in the NFL. It was a messy divorce that got the kids involved, and its repercussions are still being felt. But let's be real—we aren't going to move on, not with new information out.

The Broncos were desperate for a quarterback, a position they hadn't filled since Peyton Manning's days. They yearned for a player who could bring back the glory days, but unfortunately, in the two years Wilson was in town, the situation only worsened. Payton's first year as head coach showed promise, but the team has failed to make any significant improvements since 2016.

The Wilson-Payton partnership was known to be tumultuous, but the divorce was even more chaotic. However, when an NFL insider shed light on some of the challenges Payton was grappling with, the situation took a turn for the worse.

"He was constantly climbing out of the back of the pocket. He struggled with snap counts. He couldn't manage or handle the play-calling. They went from putting a wristband on [him] to by the end of the season, all the play calls had to be two words, and everybody else was required to know what the play calls were," CBS Sports' Aditi Kinkhabwala said via the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show.

We knew about the pocket issue because you can see that on tape. Wilson would not stay in the pocket at times when he had no need to run out of the back of it. When you do that, it gives the edge rushers more leverage to use to get to the QB and makes everything harder on the offensive tackles.
But the wristband issue, as far as the two-word play calls are concerned, is somewhat new news.

"There is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very valid reason that Sean Payton, who is one of the best quarterback coaches and best offensive minds in our game… is saying I'm going to pay this guy millions upon millions of dollars to be nowhere near my locker room," Kinkhabwala said.

Now, he isn't the Broncos' issue. He's the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, because he is such a standup guy, you somewhat hope he gets his stuff together, as long as it's not against the Broncos. He didn't help the team or franchise at all but instead set them back even further than they already were.