Sean Payton Responds to Nathaniel Hackett, Jets Criticism

The Denver Broncos head coach made some waves this week and now he's dealing with the consequences.

Sean Payton tossed a thermonuclear bomb on the NFL earlier this week by criticizing ex-Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett and criticizing the New York Jets for "trying to win the offseason." In an interview with USA Today's Jarrett Bell, Payton called Hackett's body of work in Denver last year perhaps "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL." 

Payton received blowback from some in the national media, but mainly from the New York market, and Jets offensive lineman Billy Turner (a two-time Bronco), who called Payton a "f*cking bum" in retaliation (Turner also happens to be Hackett's best friend). Payton's diatribe, true though it was, was no respecter of persons, even painting Broncos GM George Paton, and those even higher in the team's executive office, with the same brush on the subject of 2022's abject disaster. 

Payton also vociferously defended Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, scoffing at the notion that he's washed and blaming "the parents," so to speak, for the kid wandering off the straight and narrow for "allowing" it to happen. However, it was easily the most strident defense of Wilson that Payton has publicly spouted since taking the head coach job in Denver. 

Cut to Friday, Day 1 of Broncos training camp, and Payton was singing a different tune when he took to the podium following practice to hold court with the media. 

“I had one of those moments where I still had my FOX hat on and not my coaching hat," Payton said. "I said this to the team in the meeting yesterday: We had a great offseason, relative to that. I’ve been preaching that message, and here I am—the veteran—stepping in it. It was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake, obviously. I needed a little bit more filter."

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Payton pointed to the criticism and depredations his new players in Denver have suffered as a result of the obvious mishandling last year as the impetus for airing the dirty laundry that he did, blasting Hackett and the Jets, who is now the offensive coordinator in New York tasked with overseeing the Aaron Rodgers experiment. 

"There’s a pound of flesh for these guys, and as a coach, you stick up for them," Payton said. "After a while, we’re past that season last year. I said what I said. I needed a little bit more restraint, and I regret that. That being said, what I told the team is—I think I’m pretty good, relative to working with the media and am pretty savvy. I just had one of those moments."

Payton went on to provide further background on how he somewhat dropped his guard and perhaps lost sight of the severity of his words, relative to whether it would be wise to put him under the bright light of public scrutiny as disseminated by one of the biggest sports publications in the country. 

"[USA Today reporter] Jarrett [Bell] is a good friend and is really good at his job," Payton said. "[I had] two lattes in the morning. [He’s] the first one I see, and 40 minutes later, I’m regretting it. It is what it is.”

One of the curious components of Payton's outburst in USA Today was how it was juxtaposed with his mandate with Broncos players to be "anonymous donors" this offseason, stay out of the limelight, keep their heads down, and just "do the work." Since arriving at Broncos HQ, Payton has also severely curtailed media access to players, at least during the offseason, and has made it significantly harder to cover the team.

Thus, Payton's remarks to Bell might seem hypocritical, but nothing he said was untrue, per se. One can argue whether his opinion on how the Jets' blockbuster offseason will come out in the wash is valid, but everything he said relative to the 2022 Broncos and the "stink" on the hands of so many perpetrators is true. 

If nothing else, Payton's public controversy drew a line in the sand and created a wide point of demarcation between the past regime and the present. Hopefully, it served to galvanize the players and helps give the Broncos a bit of a lift as the Payton era in Denver officially kicks off with training camp. 

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