Robert Saleh Comments on Sean Payton’s Harsh Criticism of Nathaniel Hackett

The 2022 Broncos season was an unmitigated disaster, with first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett lasting just 15 games before he was fired with a 4–11 record. The football world had a lot of jokes at Hackett’s expense, though it could be argued that nobody went as hard on Hackett as new Denver coach Sean Payton just did.

In a recent interview with USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell, Payton ripped all aspects of the Broncos’ season, saying of his approach to this year, “we’re doing the opposite” of “everything” Denver did in 2022.

While Payton offered criticism of others who had a hand in last season’s shortcomings, he saved his most brutal evaluations for Hackett.

“That was a message,” Payton said. “They can only beat the [expletive] out of you so much. But everybody’s got a little stink on their hands. It’s not just Russell. It was a [poor] offensive line. It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.”

Hackett, now the offensive coordinator for the Jets, received some support from his new boss in head coach Robert Saleh, who wasn’t too pleased to hear Payton’s words.

“I’m not gonna acknowledge Sean. He’s been in the league a while, he can say whatever the hell he wants,” Saleh said. “But as far as what we have going on here, I kind of live by the saying: ‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping. So hate away.’ Obviously we’re doing something right if you’ve got to talk about us when we don’t play you until [Week 5], and I’m good with it.”

Saleh hired Hackett, who was the offensive coordinator with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay from 2019 to ’21, before the team acquired Rodgers in a trade this offseason. He complimented the job Hackett has done so far, and offered a unique, avian analogy for how he views people criticizing his team.

“I think Hackett’s doing a phenomenal job here, the coaching staff is doing a phenomenal job, and we’re focused on us. I get it, there’s a lot of external noise, there’s a lot of people that are hating on us, there’s a lot of people looking for us to fail,” Saleh said. “There’s a lot of crows pecking at our neck. All you can do is spread your wings, keep flying high until those crows fall off and suffocate from the inability to breathe.”