The candid comments of Broncos coach Sean Payton regarding former Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett generated plenty of attention, and for good reason. Payton’s takedown of Hackett was more brutal and blunt than any comments any NFL coach has uttered regarding a peer in years.
But Hackett wasn’t the only one to face criticism. As to the mishandling of quarterback Russell Wilson in 2022, Payton placed plenty of blame on others who still work for the Broncos.
“That wasn’t his fault,” Payton said of Wilson. “That was the parents who allowed it. That’s not an incrimination on him, but an incrimination on the head coach, the G.M., the president and everybody else who watched it all happen.”
The G.M., George Paton, is still there. The team president, Damani Leech, is still there. And the group of “everybody else who watched it all happen” includes ownership.
Regardless of whether ownership has an excuse for not recognizing what was happening and why, given that they didn’t show up until taking the team over in August, Payton’s painted with a very broad brush: “Everybody else who watched it all happen.”
That includes Greg Penner, who might not have known football but who knew people as the CEO of Wal-Mart. It also includes Condi Rice, who both knows football and worked at the highest levels of the American government.
The reasons for Payton’s decision to scorch the earth regarding 2022 remain unclear. What is clear is that it will be a little awkward in the building, especially if the comments surprised everyone inside the operation as much as they surprised everyone outside the operation.