ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Head Coach Sean Payton's belief that Mike Shanahan belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn't stem from a shared alma mater.
It doesn't result from a long friendship with the Broncos Ring of Fame head coach, nor is it derived from working for the same organization where Shanahan won a pair of Lombardi Trophies.
No, Payton's support for Shanahan is merely rooted in a bevy of statistics that place the Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach semifinalist among the game's best — and in the wide-reaching impact Shanahan has had on today's game.
"Forget that he's from Illinois or we went to the same college or any of those things," Payton said Monday. "I've had a long friendship with him. What he's accomplished, though, in our game — he's got two Super Bowl championships. He's been behind the minds of so many coaches working right now. I'd say almost a third of the league at one point has been impacted by Mike. And not only the coaching tree — I'm talking about the offensive tree. When I got into the league, there were two or three teams that you studied, and Denver was one of them."
Shanahan is among the nine semifinalists that the Hall of Fame's Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee will consider Tuesday to advance as the singular Coach finalist, and his resume stacks up with the greats of the game. Shanahan is one of seven coaches in the history of the NFL to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and he is the only eligible coach who has not been enshrined in Canton.
The winningest coach in Broncos history, Shanahan won more than 56 percent of his games against coaches currently in the Hall of Fame — and he is one of two coaches to hold a winning record against Bill Belichick. In his career as a head coach or coordinator, Shanahan guided 14 different offenses to a top-five ranking, and he was also responsible for two of the first six offenses to eclipse the 500-point mark in a season.
Shanahan's impact on offensive football is well-documented, and he has seen more than a dozen former assistants go on to become NFL or NCAA head coaches. Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel all spent time on Shanahan's offensive coaching staff, and Falcons head coach Raheem Morris worked for Shanahan on the defensive side.
In Payton's eyes, Shanahan's far-reaching impact and lengthy resume compare favorably to the cases of some coaches who are already enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
"We're sitting here in 2024 and we're looking at a guy — a candidate — who quite honestly has a lot better credentials [than] maybe some others [who] have gone [in] before him as coaches," Payton said. "He was one of the guys, and [he's] extremely intelligent. And then, the Super Bowls, the quarterback, the success, all those other things. I don't know when the vote is or how that all unfolds, but his candidacy, for someone like myself, it's easy. And it's all there right in front of you.
"And then go ahead and look back at the last — just take the last six coaches that have gone in, I'll just use that number — and then throw their numbers at Mike's and their accomplishments, and I think it's a simple way to look at it and arrive at the right decision."
