Broncos’ Sean Payton Eviscerates Nathaniel Hackett, Shades Jets

Sean Payton didn't mince words when he assessed the dumpster fire that was the 2022 Broncos.

After bringing in star quarterback Russell Wilson, Denver was expected to give the Kansas City Chiefs a run for their money in the AFC West and potentially contend for Super Bowl LVII. But the new-look Broncos drastically underperformed, finishing last season as one of six teams with five wins or less.

The nosedive was overseen by Nathaniel Hackett, who didn't even make it a full calendar year at the helm in Denver. Payton, hired by the Broncos in late January, called Hackett's brief tenure "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL." In the same interview with USA Today, Payton explained why Wilson doesn't deserve the lion's share of the blame for the team's struggles last season, as well as his own.

"There's so much dirt around that," Payton told Jarrett Bell. "There's 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense. 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.

"That wasn't his fault. That was the parents who allowed it. 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."

The New York Jets, who now employ Hackett as their offensive coordinator, also caught a ricochet shot from Payton.

"It doesn't happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed," Payton told 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 Broncos are slated to welcome the Jets to the Mile High City on Oct. 5. In wake of Payton's explosive interview, that Week 5 matchup figures to be very, very chippy.