**ENFIELD, U.K. —** Sean Payton can remember his mother's message, even 37 years later.
Decades before he won a Super Bowl with the Saints or helped the Broncos back to the postseason, Payton was still putting on a helmet instead of a headset.
The former Eastern Illinois quarterback played in the fledgling Arena Football League and Canadian Football League after his collegiate career. He also briefly quarterbacked the Chicago Bears during the strike-shortened 1987 season.
By 1988, Payton was prepared to begin his coaching career. And then he received a call from the owner of the Leicester Panthers, an American football team that competed in the BAFA National Leagues in England.
"I can remember my mother saying, 'All of your friends are getting married, and they have health insurance, and what are you doing?'" Payton said Wednesday at Tottenham Hotspur Training Ground.
The Broncos' head coach remembers not knowing much about where he was headed, but he still remembers when the signing bonus arrived.
"It appeared in my checking account, and then I thought, 'Well, shoot, we're going,'" Payton said with a laugh.
Payton started at quarterback for the Panthers, and he said Wednesday that he "made some great friends" as he led the team to a playoff berth. The Panthers played on AstroTurf, and he remembers having teammates that worked a variety of jobs from contraction to serving as bouncers.
"There were four Americans per team," Payton said. "We would coach and play, and then practice would be \[at\] 5:30-ish. So, when everyone was finished working, we'd go for a couple hours and then play our games on the weekend. For them, it was the love of the game, and the four of us lived in a house. We'd go workout in the mornings, play some golf, put practice plans together. … We were pretty good."