In 2003, the year that Sean Payton crossed paths in Dallas with the man who’d inform much of his NFL coaching career, he sent the Cowboys’ quarterbacks and receivers out on the practice field in the first week of offseason workouts.
Then-Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells walked out the door to the field and started staring at his disciple.
“If one of these receivers gets a hamstring,” Parcells told Payton, as the Broncos coach recalled Thursday, “I’m going to have another quarterback-receiver coach.”
Two decades later, it’s become the genesis of Payton’s offseason philosophy, from New Orleans to Denver.