As Sean Payton takes control of the Denver Broncos, one player who has played both for the Broncos and for Payton believes it’s going to work out very well.

Receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who now works for NFL Network, recently shared some insights with Mike Klis of 9News.com.

“Me being in the huddle with the Saints, I always felt like he was one or two plays ahead of the defensive coordinator,” Sanders told Klis. “Where I’ve been in other huddles where the offensive coordinator is one or two plays behind the defensive coordinator. But it’s hard to figure out Sean. And he has Russell Wilson as his quarterback and playmakers like Tim Patrick and Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy so it’s going to be fun.”

Sanders is among those who believe that Wilson will perform better with better coaching.

“If you look at the last two games Russell played, he became Russell that we knew from Seattle,” Sanders said, referring to the two games played without Nathaniel Hackett as the head coach. “He was scrambling around, he was using his legs, he was throwing on the run. When people think about Russell Wilson they probably think quarterback but I think about his baseball background. In baseball, Russell Wilson used to throw it on the run like no other.”

Sanders cited one specific example for his optimism about Wilson.

“The play that I’m thinking about is the last game [against the Chargers] where he hit Jerry Jeudy down the sideline. I was sitting on my couch and I said, ‘That’s the Russell Wilson we needed all year.’ But I think he learned from that and understands that. I think Russell Wilson is going to be the Comeback Player of the Year. Even though he didn’t get hurt, he’s going to be one of those kind of players.”

It would be fitting for Wilson to win the award in 2023, given that the player who replaced him in Seattle won it in 2022. Obviously, Wilson, Payton, and the Broncos will be aiming much higher than that.