Sean Payton explains why he isn't worried about the Broncos' pass protection, despite a rough first outing

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — No quarterback in the NFL was sacked more than Russell Wilson last season.

Wilson and Justin Fields tied for the most sacks in the NFL in 2022, going down a whopping 55 times. To put that in perspective, Jared Goff, who started all 17 games compared to Wilson’s 15 starts, was only sacked 23 times.

Not only did the Broncos trade a first and second-round pick for Sean Payton to help with that issue, but in free agency they went out and spent nearly $140 million on offensive lineman Mike McGlinchey and Ben Powers. On a per year basis, Denver’s two new offensive lineman make over $30 million.

There was a clear emphasis to upgrade Denver’s offensive line, in large part to protect their $250 million quarterback.

But the early returns for the Broncos’ revamped pass protection unit were not encouraging. On Friday night, in the team’s first preseason game against the Cardinals, Wilson was pressured more than any other quarterback in the entire NFL among players who had at least five passing attempts. To be fair, McGlinchey did not play after suffering a knee sprain in practice earlier in the week.

On Wilson’s 20 snaps, he was pressured a whopping 64 percent of his drop backs. To make matters even worse for Denver’s pass protection, backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham had the third-highest pressure rate in the NFL at 59 percent.

After digesting the film, Sean Payton talked about his reactions to the game following Monday’s practice. He went out of his way to bring up the pass protection.

“I think we can protect better,” Payton said on Monday, when asked about the game in general.

Wilson and Stidham were each only sacked once, while Ben DiNucci wasn’t sacked. When asked if it was growing pains or missed assignments from the offensive line, Payton jumped in.

“No, the assignments were fine,” the head coach made clear, following the team’s 14th training camp practice. “We just got leverage on a few plays and thin and got hurried a few too many times. We’ll be able to clean that up.”

This wasn’t the first time the pass rush has been questionable this year. Throughout much of camp, Wilson has been under pressure from the Broncos’ pass rush.

However, despite a poor first outing, Payton is confident he’ll be able to turn Denver’s pass rush around and protect his quarterback better.