Sean Keeler: Has Broncos coach Sean Payton gone soft in his old age?

Sean Keeler, The Denver Post on Aug 12, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — We now know the cause of the Broncos’ comical run of preseason soft-tissue injuries: Theater seating.

True story: Sunshine Sean Payton sanctioned an actual team movie night during the dog days of training camp. The Broncos loaded up the buses last Thursday and took the guys to see “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in the multiplex.

“I was happy but surprised at the same time,” pass-rushing ace Nik Bonitto, an early victim of 2026’s injury bug, said Tuesday after practice. “Sean, he never did (anything) like that (before). So he’s starting to take a liking to us, for sure.”

Our Sean? Liking?

I mean, what’s next? Orange slices? Juice boxes? Participation trophies?

“Well, I was consulted,” Payton offered Tuesday when I brought it up. “The whole team went. Yeah, it was just an evening event that was over and back, and our players all went. Yeah, all good.

“I’m not a big Spider-Man fan.”

What a shock.

“Would you have done a night like that four or five years ago?” I asked. “Would you have been cool with that?”

To this, Payton pondered.

“Yeah, I mentioned it this weekend to a few former players (in Canton for Hall-of-Fame Weekend), and they accused me of getting soft,” Payton cracked.

“It’s not like we changed a practice or anything. We just had a diversion, if you will. So it was good. The experience was good.”

Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit puts the “art” in “state-of-the-art,” kids — 320,000 square feet of first-class football bliss. The couches are so comfy, CEO Greg Penner caught a player sleeping on one of them. There’s a golf simulator on the third floor, for pity’s sake.

Is it OK to wonder about the effect that a palatial new team headquarters will have on the Broncos’ collective hindquarters?

“I was wondering if you kept in mind that maybe this would be a little too comfortable for them,” a scribe had asked Penner Tuesday, “in regards to performance …”

“I think you’ve met our head coach,” the Broncos boss quipped.

What? Him? That old softie?

“I don’t (worry),” Penner continued. “Everything we can do to support the players in this building, out on the field, they’re going to work their tails off. So I’m not worried about that (they’re) not working hard enough. I don’t think that would be an issue.”

To recap, though: The Broncos are coming off a stretch late last week that started with a group movie night on Thursday; followed by their coach leaving town after stretching on Friday; capped off by an interim coach/substitute teacher (Vance Joseph) running practices Friday and Saturday; and an off-day Sunday.

“Yeah, got done with practice, did some meetings, all got on the buses and went to the Spider-Man movie,” guard Quinn Meinerz recalled.

“So how was it?” I wondered.

“Well, unfortunately, the previous weekend, I saw ‘The Odyssey,'” Meinerz replied. “So, seeing this movie, it was like, you know, a traditional ‘Marvel movie,’ where this happens, and that happens, and then the build-up and then the feel-good at the end.”

“And the teaser after the credits?”

“Oh, yeah. And if you’re looking for that type of a movie, the Marvel feel-good (experience), it’s a rollercoaster (where) you know what’s going to happen. It’s a good movie.”

It was a good weekend, man. Best weekend ever!

Followed by a Monday from Hell, Meinerz told me.

And a Tuesday from Holy Heck.

“No, no. He has definitely not softened,” the Broncos’ Pro Bowl blocker said, assuring me that this whole ‘kinder, gentler Sean Payton’ thing was a myth on par with jackalopes and abominable snowmen.

“We’re practicing what, five out of six days in pads?”

“And two-and-a-half hours,” I said. “Back-to-back.”

“And using all the minutes and doing gassers and blah, blah, blah,” Meinerz countered. “So, no. It’s definitely not softer.”

Is he soft?

Listen, bud.

“Well, there’s only so much you can do now (with players), right?” Meinerz said. “Because compared to them, (compared to) my own (position) coach, Zach Streif, who played for Sean, you would do two two-and-a-half-hour, full-padded practices in a day. We’re a little bit more protected as players, where the coaches just can’t go rogue and get after us.

“Sean hasn’t gone soft. No, I wouldn’t say that at all.”

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