As the lone remaining NFC team on Denver’s schedule, the Detroit Lions are a bit of an outlier.
These teams don’t play all that frequently.
The Broncos most recently hosted Detroit in 2021 and 2019 and haven’t visited the Motor City since early in a 7-0 start to the 2015 season.
But it would be difficult to find an opponent — and, more particularly, an opposing coach — more familiar to Sean Payton.
Payton’s known Lions coach Dan Campbell for the better part of 25 years and has watched and aided as Campbell went from third-round draft pick to long-time player to young assistant coach to trusted top lieutenant to now one of the most respected head men in the league.