Sean Payton pulled Latavius Murray from the crowd pic.twitter.com/ORJsLS7VTo
— Denver Broncos 365 (@DailyBroncos) February 10, 2023
Sean Payton hasn’t been shy about his admiration for Latavius Murray. He called the former New Orleans Saints running back one of his favorite players during his introductory press conference as head coach of the Denver Broncos, and expressed his hope that Murray would be re-signed as one of his new team’s many pending free agents.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show from Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LVII, Payton plucked Murray from the crowd as he happened to walk nearby and share an interesting anecdote about Murray’s role in getting him to Denver.
“And he texted me right at Christmastime, the 23rd of December. he sent this text: ‘Hey my backfield teammate and I, we hope you come to Denver.’ And I’m thinking, what backfield teammate?” Payton shrugged. “I’m looking up who the other running back is, I’m like ‘Who are you talking about?’ And he sent ‘No. 3.’ So I’m like, we’re in the middle of the season here, I text him back: ‘Be careful what you’re asking Santa Claus for.’”
Let’s check the calendar on that — Payton says Murray texted him on Dec. 23, which he didn’t refute while sitting next to McAfee on the live set. That’s two days before the Broncos got shellacked 51-14 by the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 25, and Denver sacked first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett a day later on Dec. 26. So Murray and his No. 3-wearing teammate Russell Wilson were stumping for Payton when Hackett was still down the hall writing his opening script for the Rams game.
Yikes. But that goes to show how dire things had gotten in Denver, and the kind of mess Payton walked into. Now he’s got to clean it up. It’s clear that he sees players like Murray as a part of the solution, and the irony that Murray joining the Broncos in the first place was received poorly (at best) by Saints fans shouldn’t go unnoticed. New Orleans tried to keep him after he came off the bench to run for 57 yards and punch in a touchdown against his old Minnesota Vikings team in last year’s London game, but he rightfully saw a better opportunity in Denver. If he and Payton get their way, he’ll be back with a big role in mind for 2023.