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Sean Payton: How Coaching, Leverage, and Timing Built a $100M NFL Fortune
Welcome to Gridiron Wallet — where NFL players don’t just chase rings, they chase bags. From million-dollar grills to side hustles that slap, we’re decoding how football’s finest make it, spend it, and sometimes… fumble it. 🏈🔥
The latest edition of our newsletter covers Sean Payton:
NFL Coaching Money: One of the Highest-Paid Coaches Ever
The Year Away: Getting Paid Without Coaching
The Broncos Deal: Trading a Coach Like a Quarterback
✍️Paper Play
NFL Coaching Money: One of the Highest-Paid Coaches Ever
When he initially retired from coaching after the 2021 season, Sean Payton did so because he no longer had his guy, Drew Brees, under center at the New Orleans Saints. The future Hall of Famer had hung ‘em up the year before. It made sense for the pair to depart the Bayou around the same time. It was the end of an era, after all.
Payton, however, returned to coaching just a year later, even though he didn’t need to. He had already made a boatload of money during his decade and a half in Louisiana.
There aren’t many details about Payton’s first deal with the Saints, which ran from 2006 to 2011. However, considering how highly-sought after he was in 2005, to the point that the Dallas Cowboys gave him a pay raise to remain as their assistant head coach and OC that season, the Saints would have had to pay him quite well.
It was somewhere between $5 million and the $8 million that the highest-paid coach at the time, Seattle’s Mike Holmgren, was reportedly making. So, maybe not as much, but Payton would have been earning somewhere near that mark.
It was in 2012 that Payton really cashed in. And he did so despite having just been suspended and his 2011 extension cancelled by the league for the ‘Bountygate’ scandal. He was reinstated for the 2013 season and promptly signed an even bigger five-year, $40 million deal that placed him in the upper echelon of coaches.
A few years later, in 2016, he signed another five-year extension that ran through the 2020 season, bumping his annual salary to about $9 million. Then, in 2019, he signed yet another five-year extension that would have paid him at least $10 million a year.
But he retired in 2021, even though the retirement did not last. He spent a year on TV before making the interview rounds in January 2023. He eventually landed with the Denver Broncos on a very lucrative deal.
While some sources estimate his net worth at around $45-$50 million, Payton, 62, has certainly earned a lot more than that during his NFL years. Not counting the millions he made as a highly-touted assistant in the early 2000s, he has conservatively made $160 million in salary as an NFL head coach up till the 2025 campaign.
Yes, that’s a lot of money. And we haven’t even touched on the fact that he’s the only coach ever to get his own Jordan sneaker deal.
💸 Future Proof
The Year Away: Getting Paid Without Coaching
Payton’s most unusual financial chapter came in 2022 when he stepped away from coaching the New Orleans Saints, after 15 seasons at the helm, and winning a Super Bowl. However, he remained under contract with the team and continued getting paid, as per the terms of the deal.
However, Payton wasn’t sitting around. He joined Fox Sports as an analyst for the 2022 season. His reported salary was around $6 to $7 million for that year. His primary role was filling in for Jimmie Johnson on Fox NFL Sunday when the former coach needed time off.
Since he never officially retired, Payton’s contractual rights retained significant value. That leverage proved crucial when he returned to coaching. It allowed the Saints to trade his rights to the Denver Broncos. Yes, he is one of the few coaches in sports history who got traded.
The year away from coaching didn’t keep Payton away from staying prepared. He continued to watch film and break down games much like he did during his time in New Orleans. That commitment impressed Denver enough to make him one of the highest-paid head coaches in league history. Payton also interviewed with the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Houston Texans in 2023.
It’s a good thing he chose Denver, though. He has steadily improved the team’s record every season since he arrived. This season, he led them to a 14-3 record. Payton has given the team their best chance to get back to a Super Bowl since 2015.
💡 Gridiron Wallet Trivia
Did you know?
🌿 In 2012, Sean Payton was suspended for the entire NFL season without pay due to the New Orleans Saints’ “Bountygate” scandal, costing him approximately $7.5 million in lost salary. At the time, it was the most severe financial penalty ever imposed on an NFL head coach.
🏈 ✨Dream Scheme
The Broncos Deal: Trading a Coach Like a Quarterback
Back in 2023, Payton and the Broncos changed how the NFL values coaches in every sense: Financially, structurally, and philosophically.
Head coaches, like pretty much the entirety of the back-end staff, rarely got paid or traded like the players. And rightly so. But the Broncos decided to flip the script by trading for Payton from the Saints and paying him like he was a franchise quarterback.
Denver handed Payton a five-year deal worth roughly $90 million, averaging $18 million per season. At the time, that was one of the highest annual salaries ever for an NFL head coach with no clauses or performance escalators. It was equivalent to the Browns’ infamous Deshaun Watson trade, which guaranteed him a contract of $230 million.
But the real shock came before the pen even hit paper. To acquire Payton’s rights from New Orleans, the Broncos had to send over premium draft capital: A 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick, in return for a 2024 third-round pick from the Saints.
The move sent shock waves across the league because no other coach in NFL history had ever been traded for picks like that. But Denver’s logic was simple. They hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2015. Their coaching hires never worked, and their quarterback fixes hadn’t stuck. So instead of gambling again, they went all out for Payton and bought certainty.
And unlike the Watson trade, this deal seems to be worth every penny.
In his first year, Payton inherited a broken roster and still pushed Denver to an 8-9 record, narrowly missing the playoffs. But more importantly, he restored competitiveness. It was their most functional season in years.
Then in 2024, the Broncos finished 10-7, snapping their playoff drought and returning to the postseason for the first time since their Super Bowl 50 run. While they did lose in the Wild Card round, the positives were undeniable.
And now in the 2025 season, the Broncos went 14-3, earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed, and are slated to play the AFC Championship Game this weekend against the New England Patriots. In just three seasons, Payton has somehow turned a lost franchise into a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Denver’s gamble with Payton will go down in the history books because it proved successful. They were rewarded for their conviction, and it changed the franchise… Every NFL GM’s dream!
📆 NFL Money Stat of 1988
In 1985, the average NFL player's salary was approximately $230,000 — a sharp increase from previous years, reflecting the league’s growing television revenue. That same year, the NFL signed a $1.9 billion, five-year TV deal with CBS, NBC, and ABC, which significantly boosted league income and laid the groundwork for modern broadcast-driven growth.