“I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office…NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them” – Colin Cowherd
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 21: Head coach Sean Payton of the Founders FFC takes the field during the Fanatics Flag Football Classic at BMO Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images for OBB Media - FANATICS STUDIOS)
The Denver Broncos were never going to have an easy ride this coming season after winning the AFC West in 2025 and receiving the first-place schedule in 2026 as a consequence.
Yet some outlets have claimed that the team got an unfortunate break after the franchise had some of their toughest games clumped together at the beginning of the season. On the face of it, this is not necessarily a negative, especially for a team like Denver who is set to have – barring significant injuries – substantial team and roster continuity from their highly successful 2025 year.
However, quarterback Bo Nix is coming back from a broken ankle suffered in the Divisional Round win against the Buffalo Bills which forced him to have reconstructive surgery this past spring. Putting not only a sprinkling but a run of tough opponents together to start the regular season, where Nix’s abilities will be needed most, and yet physically he may still not be 100%, would appear to be at best a highly unfortunate coincidence.
And Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd, despite proclaiming himself to not be a “conspiracy” peddler, believes that this difficult schedule may well be attributed to head coach Sean Payton’s historically strained relationship with the NFL.
“I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office…NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them” – Colin Cowherd
“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 a coaches. NFL does not like friendly fire – zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they are punishing them. The toughest six-game schedule I have ever seen in my life…I have never seen anything like that.” Cowherd said on May 15.
“They could have thrown an Arizona game in there, a Panthers game in there. They could have thrown that Steeler game in there, the Raider game in there. Nope. Front heavy, with Bo Nix coming off a surgery. I am not a conspiracy guy, but I think Sean Payton has irked a few people [around the league].”
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated also noted that Denver got a brutal falling of the cards, noting them as one of the eight teams that got “screwed” by the NFL.
“Starting the season with the Chiefs, Jaguars, Rams, 49ers, Chargers and Seahawks—with Bo Nix coming off a reconstructed ankle—isn’t exactly a cake walk.” Orr wrote.
Orr also notes that in comparison, Kansas City – who are set to most likely be Denver’s biggest rivals for the AFC West title – received a much nicer scheduling break.
“And, just to illustrate the power of schedule-makers, you juxtapose Denver’s start of the season while Nix is recovering to that of Kansas City, where [Patrick] Mahomes has back-to-back home games and games against the Raiders and Dolphins before an early bye.”
Perhaps it is simply a coincidence; there are so many permutations to league-wide schedule-making that it is impossible for every team to get the most fortuitous roll of the dice.
But a team with a head coach who has such noted antagonistic feelings towards the league executives going back to the Bounty-gate days getting such a tough starting stretch, with their quarterback coming off a serious injury, feels like anything but an accident.
Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com. Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics and The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas
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