ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Head coach Sean Payton spearheaded the Denver Broncos ' return to relevance and is now set to steer the team through the rest of this decade after signing a new five-year contract Thursday.
Payton's new deal replaces one that ran through 2027 and coincides with the extension recently signed by general manager George Paton. Both deals run through 2030.
“Sean Payton has led an impressive turnaround over the past three seasons, instilling a winning culture with high expectations,” team owner and CEO Greg Penner said in a statement. “I appreciate the close partnership he shares with George Paton along with the alignment and stability across our football operations.
“We're thrilled for Sean to continue leading our team as head coach, building on our progress during such an exciting time for the Broncos.”
Payton said he's pleased his contract runs concurrently with his GM's.
“It makes all the sense in the world. I'm super appreciative of that opportunity,” Payton said.
Asked how much longer he aspired to coach, Payton, 62, said, “I haven't given a lot of thought to the endgame. I've got a lot of juice left and enjoy what we're doing.”
Payton said he's been spoiled by getting to serve as head coach for both the Saints, with whom he won a Super Bowl, and the Broncos. Tom Benson and subsequently his wife, Gayle Benson, owned the Saints during Payton’s tenure as head coach in New Orleans and Mickey Loomis was general manager and executive vice president of football operations.
“To go 2-for-2 with that is hard in our league,” Payton said. “So, I'm thankful they want me back and I'll do everything I can to continue to keep winning.”
That includes handing off play-calling duties to new offensive coordinator Davis Webb this season. Webb had served as quarterbacks coach since Payton's arrival in 2023.
“I think it helps a lot, just his experience with the system, with Bo (Nix), with the current players," Payton said. “He's not coming in new, learning it all. He's doing well, the process is going well."
Webb, who's only a few years removed from his quarterback playing career, was interviewed for head coaching vacancies during the last cycle but said he's glad he stuck around for this promotion.
“I love it here,” Webb said. "I love the staff we have here. I love the players we have here. I love the ownership we have here. I love the front office, and there was no doubt in my mind I wanted to be here.”
Webb said the biggest draw to staying in Denver was continuing to work with Payton, whom he's watched build the offense, the culture and the game plans.
“This is a fun offense to be a part of and the most attractive thing is leaning on Sean, being in game plan meetings with him, using his experience," Webb said. “... I'm very blessed to be here with a gold jacket head coach, a great young quarterback and learn from those guys every single day."
All-Pro defensive lineman Zach Allen said Payton's extension is welcome news.
“What he's done here has been incredible,” Allen said. “You know, a lot of us here signed extensions and a big reason why was because of him and so it's fully deserved and we're really happy for him.”
Payton is 33-21 including playoffs in three seasons in Denver. Overall, he has a career regular-season record of 184-108 and a 10-10 mark in the playoffs. His 184 victories are second most to Kansas City coach Andy Reid's 279 among active NFL head coaches.
Payton was 8-9 in his first season in Denver, then went 10-7 and ended the franchise’s eight-year playoff drought in 2024, losing to the Bills in the divisional round. The Broncos went 14-3 last season, earned the AFC's top seed and secured their first playoff victory since winning Super Bowl 50 when they beat Buffalo.
But Nix broke his right ankle late in overtime and watched as backup Jarrett Stidham replaced him in the AFC championship, which Denver lost to New England.
Nix recently had a second procedure on his right ankle and is slated to participate in the Broncos' mandatory minicamp next week after doing light work the last two weeks.
Payton bristled when asked about Nix's mobility maybe being affected by the ankle operations.
“Listen, he's going to be like completely clean mobility-wise,” Payton said. “He's out here like today going through two-minute reps, walkthrough reps. I mean, he's young and one of his great assets is his ability to avoid sacks and escape from the pocket and I don't think you'll see that hindered at all.”
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Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton looks on as players warm up during an NFL football training practice at the team's headquarters Thursday, June 4, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton looks on as players warm up during an NFL football practice at the team's headquarters Thursday, June 4, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man who pleaded guilty Thursday to killing a top Democratic lawmaker and her husband admitted he spent months identifying elected officials to target and stalked them before driving to their homes in the middle of the night, dressed as a police officer, with the intention of killing them.
The Minneapolis-area attacks last summer by Vance Boelter, 58, sparked the largest police search in state history and reverberated across the country, with elected officials fearing that escalating threats and polarization could lead to more violence. Boelter pleaded guilty so that federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty; instead, he agreed to serve two consecutive life sentences, plus 40 years.
Boelter, disguised in a tactical uniform and realistic mask, parked his police-style SUV with emergency flashing lights in the driveway of House Speaker Melissa Hortman's home at around 3:30 a.m. on June 14, 2025. He rang the doorbell, shouting: “Police, welfare check,” according to a plea agreement made public Thursday. Mark Hortman, her husband, answered the door.
Mark Hortman told Boelter that his wife was also in the home, and Boelter said he'd need to see her before he could leave, according to the plea agreement. When Mark Hortman asked, Boelter gave him a fake name and badge number and, when Hortman followed up for his jurisdiction, Boelter hesitated before naming a different Minneapolis suburb, the agreement states. Boelter then immediately took out his gun to shoot Hortman multiple times, according to the agreement.
Boelter then “rushed forward through the front door into the home” and shot Melissa Hortman repeatedly “as she attempted to flee upstairs,” according to the plea agreement. Both Melissa and Mark Hortman were killed.
Boelter had already been to the home of state Sen. John Hoffman that night, shooting and critically injuring him and his wife, Yvette, while their daughter was nearby.
There were brief sobs from the courtroom gallery Thursday where family members of the Hortmans sat alongside John and Yvette Hoffman as the attacks were described in detail. Again and again Boelter simply said “yes,” as his attorney questioned him about his actions, including whether he pressed a pistol to Melissa Hortman’s head and fired.
U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen told reporters after the hearing that the death penalty was only taken off the table after Boelter agreed to the longest possible prison sentence for the six federal charges.
“Political violence is a scourge plaguing America,” Rosen said. “Those that would commit political violence at any level should take heed: the Justice Department will seek and obtain the longest prison terms available for your crimes.”
A statement posted on John Hoffman's Facebook page said there is no justice for the Hortmans, and “there is not justice when our family and our state will never truly heal. While the legal process may provide accountability, true healing requires something more from all of us."
The statement called on Minnesotans and Americans to “treat people with respect, to stop de-humanizing each other, and to stop dividing our country with hate and rhetoric.”
Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder as well as charges of impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty. The Hortman family’s golden retriever was gravely injured in the shootings and had to be euthanized. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that the federal plea agreement does not affect the state's case, which had been on hold pending the resolution of the federal case.
Boelter also stopped outside the homes of two other lawmakers in the Minneapolis suburbs that night. At one, he knocked but no one answered. At the other, he was apparently frightened away when a police officer, believing he was a fellow officer, approached him as he sat in his vehicle.
Boelter, wearing his orange jail sweatshirt and sweatpants as he sat in the courtroom between two of his attorneys, listened closely as U.S. District Judge John Tunheim talked through each of the six charges and their maximum sentences. Tunheim accepted the guilty pleas and said he would set a date soon for sentencing.
Boelter was captured near his home in rural Green Isle, about an hour's drive from Minneapolis, the day after the shootings, which prosecutors have said were politically motivated but which remain in many ways unexplained.
“Dad went to war last night,” Boelter messaged his family that morning. “Words are not going to explain how sorry I am.”
Boelter, an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had traveled to Congo as a preacher and missionary, spent much of his life in the food service industry. He had been struggling to earn a living before the shootings, after the failure of a security company he'd founded.
John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.
Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.
Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Attorney's office in the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Colin Hortman, center, son of Melissa and Mark Hortman, walks inside the federal courthouse in Minneapolis on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
The exterior of the Diana E. Murphy United States Courthouse is shown on Thursday, June 11, 2026 in Minneapolis. (Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
FILE - This courtroom sketch shows Vance Boelter, who is charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife, appears at federal court in Minneapolis on Aug. 7, 2025. (Cedric Hohnstadt via AP, File)
FILE - This booking photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office shows Vance Boelter in Green Isle, Minn., on June 16, 2025. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
FILE - A photo of Mark and Melissa Hortman is displayed during their funeral service inside the sanctuary at the Basilica of St. Mary's in Minneapolis on June 28, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
