The Denver Broncos were a bit of a mess before Sean Payton arrived back in 2023. In the previous season, Denver went 5-12 and saw the Russell Wilson-Nathaniel Hackett experiment blow up big-time.
Not only was Hackett one of the worst head coaching hires in recent memory, but Wilson was already damaged goods and clearly someone in a major decline. It felt like Denver was not going to be able to dig out of that mess, but shortly after the season ended, Denver managed to swing a trade for Payton, and the results have been great.