Sean Payton Vindicated by The Athletic's Exposé on the Jets

Sean Payton was right about what the future held for the New York Jets.

 When Sean Payton was hired as head coach of the Denver Broncos, there was a sense of relief the team had finally found the man to turn things around. Former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett failed miserably in his first stint leading a franchise and was fired 15 games into his tenure.

While it's typically taboo to slander or criticize the coach who preceded you, Payton chose violence last summer. In an interview with USA Today last July, Payton absolutely nuked Hackett for his abysmal efforts as a head coach in Denver and even took shots at his new team, the New York Jets. To recap: 

“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton said via Jarrett Bell. “And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.

“We’re not doing any of that. The Jets did that this year. You watch. ‘Hard Knocks,’ all of it. I can see it coming. Remember when (former Washington owner) Dan Snyder put that Dream Team together? I was at the Giants (in 2000). I was a young coach. I thought, ‘How are we going to compete with them? Deion’s (Sanders) there now.’ That team won eight games or whatever. So, listen … just put the work in.”

The media and, more importantly, the Jets were shocked that Payton would say such things about another coach in the league. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was angry that his best buddy and offensive coordinator Hackett was getting criticized by Payton and responded in a fiery interview with NFL Network’s Peter Schrager.

“Those comments were very surprising for a coach to do that to another coach,” Rodgers said last summer. "It made me feel bad that someone who has accomplished a lot in the league is that insecure that they had to take another man down to set themselves up for some sort of easy fall.” I thought it was way out of line, inappropriate, and I think he needs to keep my coaches’ names out of his mouth.”

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The Broncos ended the 2023 season with an 8-9 record, with Russell Wilson looking much more like himself. Post-Hackett, Wilson's numbers increased. However, Payton ultimately benched him as Wilson wasn’t effective enough in his system — despite a three-win improvement in the standings from the previous season with Hackett.

The Jets lost Rodgers to an Achilles tear only four plays into their home opener, going on to finish the season 7-10. It was severely disappointing, considering the fans' high hopes after the Rodgers trade.

As Broncos Country knows, losing comes with finger-pointing and revelations of dysfunction. It just so happens that the Jets found out only a season after Hackett was booted from Denver and embraced by their organization. The problems aren’t limited to Hackett but the Jets franchise as a whole, though.

The Athletic dropped a bombshell article in which they interviewed 30 anonymous individuals in or around the Jets organization. Some of the findings are shocking to most, but Payton saw it from a mile away. 

These findings have many takeaways, but this phrase from a Jets coach sums up the article exceptionally well.

“It’s just such a f—ing mess.”

A heaping scoop of Rodgers’ narcissism and Hackett’s terrible play-calling, a tablespoon of defensive frustration with the offense, a helping of a paranoid and frustrated head coach, and a dash of an uneasy quarterback situation, and you have a recipe for the Jets’ dysfunctional 2023 season.

Rodgers would project love and support for Jets backup QB Zach Wilson, but he ignored him once his season was lost due to his injury. Rodgers had many of his buddies from the Green Bay Packers brought in to help him, even though he assured everyone that the talent from the Packers wasn’t going to be enough.

Rodgers' off-field antics brought more negative eyes to the team. Beefing with Jimmy Kimmel and calling into the Pat MacAfee Show weekly to complain or talk as if he is holier than thou put a target on his back. Rodgers’s talent on the field is undeniable, but his personality is as inauthentic as a $20 Rolex.

Head coach Robert Saleh was two-faced in his support for Wilson, and Hackett refused to make adjustments for the young signal-caller. Saleh will be on the hot seat if the Jets don’t get off to a fast start next season, and the same goes for Hackett.

The Jets “won the offseason,” to quote Payton, by trading for Rodgers and signing free agents like running back Dalvin Cook. Being featured on Hard Knocks further fed the delusions that this team was ready to compete for a Super Bowl.

However, Payton saw right through all the glitz and glamour of New York and called the Jets out for being exactly what they were: inauthentic and way in over their heads. It can be argued that New York got the last laugh over Payton by defeating the Broncos in Denver in Week 5, but nothing he said to USA Today was proven wrong in the fullness of time. 

As abrasive and blunt as Payton is, he spoke nothing but facts in his outlook for the 2023 Jets and their failure to take flight. 

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