Popular sports media personality Colin Cowherd has been on record as a strong supporter of the Denver Broncos ever since Sean Payton became the team's head coach. On his show, "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on Fox Sports 1, he has frequently put the Broncos near the top of his weekly power rankings segment.
This past Thursday, the NFL released the full schedule for the 2026 season. Broncos fans quickly pointed to the rough start to the slate as the team will have to face, in this order, the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.
That's a tall task for any team.
Shortly after the schedule was made public, Cowherd seemed to take exception and accused the league of "punishing" the Broncos due to comments made by Payton in the past.
"Who are they punishing? And I believe this, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office. He's taken shots at quarterbacks, he's taken shots at coaches... NFL does not like friendly fire, zip it. Look at Denver's schedule; they're punishing them. The first six games... that's the toughest six-game schedule I have ever seen in my life and I'm a geek on this stuff. I am a nerd on schedules. I've never seen anything like that.
They could have thrown an Arizona game in there, a Panthers game in there. They could have thrown that Steeler game in there, a Raider game in there, nope. Front heavy, with Bo Nix coming off a surgery. I believe and again, I'm not a conspiracy guy, but I think Sean Payton has irked a few people, he's been outspoken, a little friendly sometimes in the league. That feels like they're trying to punish them", said Cowherd.
Colin Cowherd's take on Broncos' schedule is a reach
To suggest that Payton is being punished now for things he's said, which Cowherd refers to as "friendly fire," seems like a bit much.
The Broncos do have a difficult start to the season, but it lightens up quite a bit after that and as stated here by Nick Shook of NFL.com, it's actually one of the easiest schedules in the league. That is all based on winning percentage from last season, which truly doesn't mean much of anything now, but that is what is used when considering the hardest and easiest schedules.
There are likely a bunch of Broncos fans who were upset when they saw how the schedule opens this season but by comparison, the Chargers' schedule looks quite difficult after opening the season against the Cardinals and Raiders. Following those two games, their next six look like this: At Buffalo, at Seattle, Denver, at Kansas City, at Los Angeles Rams, and Houston. That is every bit as difficult as what the Broncos have to deal with.
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To suggest that it's punishment for Payton's choice of words in the past is totally ridiculous.
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