Broncos head coach Sean Payton adds another familiar face to staff with Pete Carmichael hire

Pete Carmichael joins a Broncos staff that is feeling more like the New Orleans Saints by the day

After being dismissed as the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints just two weeks ago, Pete Carmichael now finds himself employed once again. As long-time head coach Sean Payton continues his efforts to turn the Denver Broncos into the Mile High Saints, he took another step in that direction, hiring Carmichael, his long-time Saints offensive coordinator, to a position on his Broncos staff.

“Ex-New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael is joining Sean Payton’s coaching staff on the Denver Broncos, though his exact role is unknown,” per Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune (h/t John Sigler of USA Today). “Expect Carmichael to carry some sort of senior assistant title and get back to what he did best in New Orleans while drawing up plays behind the scenes.”

Carmichael started with the Saints organization in 2006, spending three years as the team's quarterbacks coach before serving as the offensive coordinator under Sean Payton from 2009 to 2021. In that time, Payton remained the play-caller for a Saints offense that finished in the top 10 in both points per game and total yardage ten times in that stretch, but Carmichael has frequently been given plenty of credit over the years for the sustained excellence of the Saints offense. It's clear that Sean Payton is making a concerted effort to surround himself with the key pieces on those Saints coaching staffs in hopes of replicating that success in Denver.

“Now he’s going to Denver for a reunion with Payton and former coworkers including Zach Strief, Mike Westhoff, Joe Vitt, John Morton, and Joe Lombardi, among others,” writes Sigler, including Cody Rager, the Broncos new assistant scouting director who worked as a scout in the Saints organization under Payton for seven years.

One thing that Payton and Carmichael had going for them was Drew Brees, whose prime years coincided with most of the Payton-Carmichael era in New Orleans. The Broncos will likely be moving on from the aging Russell Wilson this offseason, so it's unclear who will be under center for the Broncos come September. But the Payton-Carmichael partnership is theoretically a step in the right direction, no matter who the Broncos quarterback will be in 2024.