The jury remains out on whether the difficult 2022 season for Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson happened because Wilson lost his fastball at 33 into 34, or whether former head coach Nathaniel Hackett failed to properly utilize Wilson’s talents.

That question will be conclusively resolved in 2023, because new coach Sean Payton isn’t going to do anything that Wilson can’t do well.

“It wasn’t the type of season he wanted to have,” Payton said Monday when describing Wilson’s 2022 campaign, via the transcript of the introductory press conference provided by the team. “I feel like the last couple of weeks, we saw a little bit more of maybe what we were expecting or accustomed to. I say, ‘We,’ [meaning] you all when you signed them. I think the No. 1 job for us as coaches in evaluating our players [is deciding] what are the things that they do really well? Then, let’s try to put them in those positions. At least that’s the starting point, and I think that it is important to highlight their strengths and minimize maybe any weaknesses.”

It’s basic and it’s simple. But, still, many coaches don’t do it. They are beholden to their systems over their players. They try to jam a square peg into a round role, instead of adapting the offense to the unique abilities and limitations of the players who will be executing the plays.