To play or to not play the starters in the preseason?
A question that comes across the desk for the Denver Broncos and all other 31 NFL teams every offseason, teams constantly go back and forth on if the benefits of playing their starters in the three August exhibitions outweigh the risks.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton had a strong opinion on the debate after the Broncos wrapped up mandatory minicamp on Thursday, the last organized practice for the team until training camp gets underway at the end of July.
“You have to build [a] callus,” Payton said. We can stay healthy in the preseason and not play our starters, but I know where that’s going. You have to build a callus, and there’s risks when you do that.”
In 2024, Payton played his starters in the first two preseason games before seeing what the reserves had to offer in the final exhibition of the year against Arizona Cardinals. From Courtland Sutton to Troy Franklin, the veterans were getting reps in alongside their young teammates as the team went 3-0 in the preseason.
One of the Broncos newest faces has been a victim of the preseason-injury epidemic in J.K. Dobbins. Back in 2021 when he was on the Baltimore Ravens, he tore his ACL in the team’s preseason finale which completed changed the trajectory of his career.
While Payton’s squad has a fair amount of veterans on the roster, bringing in rookies such as RJ Harvey and players through free agency such as Evan Engram creates a lack of chemistry as those players try and get adjusted to the system as quickly as possible.
If Payton didn’t play his starters in the preseason last year – especially given the fact that Bo Nix was a rookie – would the Broncos still have won 10 games and made the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons? Would they have gone on the road at Tampa Bay in Week 3 and dominated the opposition for their first victory of the season? Would Nix still have started in the season-opener at Seattle?
While some fans might not like this mindset from Payton given the inherent injury risk associated with football and the fact that preseason games don’t count for anything other than extra reps, but Payton knows a thing or two about how to orchestrate a team that wins games. He is currentlytied for the 17th-most wins by a head coach in NFL history, and will likely climb to at least 14th on that list by the end of the 2025 season. Among active head coaches, his 170 wins are tied with Pete Carroll as the fourth-best mark.
The Broncos now have about five weeks off to enjoy the summer before training camp gets underway. Payton said that he has plans in place to enjoy the break, but didn’t want to go into detail and share exactly what he had going on.