Browns vs. Broncos reunited QB Jameis Winston and head coach Sean Payton

DENVER – Monday night will feel somewhat familiar for Browns quarterback Jameis Winston and Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton. However, there will also be something strange.

Winston and Payton spent five seasons as NFC South rivals after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in 2015. That meant they battled the New Orleans Saints twice a year, with Payton on the sidelines as head coach

That’s what, in some ways, made 2020 so strange for Payton, among many other non-football reasons. Suddenly, the quarterback he had faced twice a year for five years was sitting in the Saints’ meeting room as Drew Brees’ replacement.

“You have to remember that there were years when he played against us in Tampa,” Payton told reporters in Denver on Wednesday. “I hated him because he was one of the opposing teams’ quarterbacks, but we always had some good battles. When he came to our program, he was a backup sponge.”

Winston spoke with awe about his first year in New Orleans. He talked about how working with future Hall of Famer Brees made him a better quarterback in his final season.

It wasn’t just Brees, however. Winston has spoken about Payton, one of the NFL’s certified offensive masterminds, as another major influence on him.

“What Sean possessed was a leadership quality that was so important to our team at the New Orleans Saints because I always put Drew on that pedestal and I knew it was Drew’s team,” Winston said Wednesday. “But in some ways Sean was one of our greatest leaders, our hardest worker. In any case, he was a leader among men, and that’s how I put it. He was one of the best leaders I’ve ever seen.”

Injuries and the business of football prevented Winston and Payton from working long-term. Winston would play the first seven Saints games of 2021 before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, and Payton would leave coaching after that season to work in television for a year.

Winston remained with the Saints through the 2023 season. This was also Payton’s first season as head coach of the Broncos.

Now Payton gets a chance to go back to the old days when his team tried to beat Winston’s team. Still, he couldn’t help but think fondly of the time he spent with the quarterback in New Orleans.

“I enjoyed it,” Payton said earlier in the week he trained Winston. “…He’s great in the locker room. I’ve said this before, he has this infectious personality, a smile on his face every day when he’s at work. You hear him before you see him, this type of guy. … He’s the ultimate professional. “He has natural leadership qualities, and you can feel that with him.”

People around the Browns, both inside and outside the locker room and the organization, are nodding in agreement. For the success Winston had in four games as a limited starter – his 295.5 yards per game average surpassed only Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals during that time – it was his personality that drew people in almost every time spoken.

When Winston speaks, an aura surrounds him that can have a hypnotic effect on listeners. Whether it’s quoting Eminem in a post-game TV interview or jumping out of the locker room singing “Jingle Bells” after a win in the snow, you can’t help but be drawn to his personality.

“It’s contagious,” Payton said. “We used to make life difficult for him because we were in the same department. So you went from being someone you don’t know to someone you just say ‘Ahh’ to, but he’s got this personality and I think it’s real.” I think he’s leading in that direction and I think , that honestly brought a spark to their team.”

The Browns (3-8) come to Denver looking for a second straight win after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12. Those same Steelers await next Sunday in Pittsburgh, a place like Denver where Cleveland has struggled mightily for decades.

For all the talk about Winston and Payton’s past connections, the Browns quarterback is well aware of the fact that the next loss for the Browns would leave them with a lost season. So it’s not about beating Sean Payton for Winston.

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