Sean Payton didn’t hold back about the situation he inherited in Denver.
The team is coming off a dreadful 5-12 in the first season of the Russell Wilson era, and Payton had scathing thoughts on the team’s 2022 operation beyond quarterback, particularly with former head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
“It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton told Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY Sports. “That’s how bad it was.”
Payton kicked off his first training camp with the Broncos this week, returning to the NFL after taking a year away from coaching following his exit from the New Orleans Saints. His new deal will cost the Broncos around $18 million per season, not to mention draft capital that was sent to New Orleans to bring him aboard.
Since arriving in February, Payton has been working to eradicate the “stink” left behind by the previous regime.
Hackett ditched his post as offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers to take the head job with the Broncos in January 2022. He didn’t make it through the regular season, going 4-11 before getting fired as the offense became one of the league’s worst. Hackett has since reunited with quarterback Aaron Rodgers as the new offensive coordinator for the New York Jets.
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Payton’s sharp criticisms of the 2022 Broncos also extended beyond the field, as he took umbrage with the presence of Wilson’s entourage around the team facility and the people who permitted it.
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“There’s so much dirt around that,” he said. “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 [Wilson’s] fault,” Payton continued. “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.”
Payton went at other NFL teams, too, including Hackett’s new organization. He talked about last year’s Broncos trying to “win the offseason” and pointed at several franchises he sees doing the same.
“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. 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.”
Payton won’t have to wait long to see Hackett across the field. The Broncos will welcome the Jets to Empower Field at Mile High on Oct. 8 for a Week 5 matchup.
By that point, Payton expects his team will have done a complete 180.
“Everything I heard about last season, we’re doing the opposite,” Payton said.
