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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline approaches, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said that while his team will listen, it is not offering players to others.
“We’re not openly, or even remotely, shopping anyone,” Payton said Monday. “Have people called? Sure they have, and typically the buyer wants the media to know they called, not the seller. We’re preparing … we’re looking at the next opponent.”
The Broncos opened the season 0-3, with two consecutive losses at home followed by a historical 70-20 defeat to the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, so they have been a consistent presence on the trade rumor mill in recent weeks. Teams had expressed interest in wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton during the offseason, but Payton consistently said publicly that the Broncos wanted to keep both of those players.
The trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. The Broncos are on a bye this week after Sunday’s 24-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. The win ended a 16-game losing streak to the Chiefs and was the Broncos’ (3-5) third victory over their past five games.
After the trades to acquire quarterback Russell Wilson before the 2022 season and to sign Payton this past offseason, Denver has six picks in next April’s draft. Both Payton and general manager George Patton have said acquiring more picks is always a consideration.
However, Payton was asked Monday if the Broncos would consider adding a player via a trade.
“This is the hardest time of the year for all of the people in the media whose job it is to get that information,” Payton said. “We look closely at the roster, and we look closely not only at the roster this year, but the roster in the following [year], as you project out. … Look there’s nothing to say we might not be in that business.”
Safety Justin Simmons said after Sunday’s win he believed in the team’s current makeup and hoped no players would be traded, adding that those decisions “are above my pay grade.”
“I think we have the talent on the team as is,” Simmons said. “I think we can definitely do it.”
Payton’s comments Monday reaffirmed, for the most part, what he said Sunday after the win when he was asked about his approach to the trade deadline.
“There’s no approach,” Payton said “We’re not the team looking to go out and buy, [and] we can’t control the buyers who call. You always pick the phone up, you have to do that professionally. We’ve got a plan on where we see ourselves. … When I see or hear things I chuckle, because I think I haven’t talked to anybody about that and if I haven’t then it’s probably not true.”
The Broncos next play Nov. 13 when they face the Bills in Buffalo on “Monday Night Football.”
