In a rare critique of the team’s previous coach and staff, new Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton told USA Today that his predecessors had done “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
Payton, who was hired this past offseason by the Broncos, sounded off on former head coach Nathaniel Hackett and others. Last season, Hackett was let go by the team after a 4-11 record under him.
The 59-year-old Payton didn’t hold back on his disgust for the team’s former coaches and their treatment of quarterback Russell Wilson last season.There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms,” Payton told USA Today Thursday.
“I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.”
Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl XLVIII champion, had a career-worst season in his first year in Denver, finishing with 16 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and only 3,524 yards passing.That was the parents who allowed it (to happen),” Payton added. “That’s not an incrimination on him, but an incrimination on the head coach, the GM, the president, and everybody else who watched it all happen.”
CNN has reached out to the Broncos for comment.
Payton’s sharp commentary of a fellow NFL coach is uncommon among the league’s coaching fraternity.
He took aim at Hackett’s new employer, the New York Jets, who hired him as the offensive coordinator this past offseason. The Jets had a big offseason after trading for four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and were recently named the participant in HBO and NFL Films’ five-part docuseries “Hard Knocks.”
Despite the big acquisitions and big media hype around the Jets, Payton feels the team will fail to live up to expectations.
“We’re not doing any of that,” Payton said. “The Jets did that this year. You watch. ‘Hard Knocks,’ all of it. I can see it coming.”
Jets head coach Robert Saleh addressed the comments while talking to reporters during training camp on Thursday. Saleh said Payton can say “whatever the hell he wants.”
