Jets OL Billy Turner Claps Back at Sean Payton in Explicit Tirade
On Thursday, Sean Payton's explosive comments shot through the NFL world like a bombshell as the new Denver Broncos head coach ripped Nathaniel Hackett. Payton said of the ex-Broncos head coach, who's now the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets, that Hackett's 2022 efforts "might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL."
While many Broncos fans cheered Payton dropping the hammer on Hackett, not everyone took kindly to it. Former Broncos offensive lineman Billy Turner (two stints), who happens to be Hackett's "best friend," clapped back at Payton with a few haymakers himself. The difference? Payton's punches landed (aka they were true) while Turner's quite obviously missed the mark.
“Seems like someone started training camp and is trying to soften the blow after realizing what he’s in for this season. F*cking bum,” Turner wrote on social media. He added the hashtags #childish and #BountyGate, which, of course, was an attempt to unbury perceived skeletons in Payton's closet from his time in New Orleans. Like Payton cares.
Turner followed his best friend to New York, where he'll again help protect Aaron Rodgers. Turner has now joined his best buddy Hackett in three NFL locales, including Green Bay, Denver, and New York.
Turner was especially salty in his retort because Payton also singled out the Jets for seemingly trying to "win the offseason."
“We’re not doing any of that," Payton said via Jarrett Bell of USA Today. "The Jets did that this year. You watch. 'Hard Knocks,' all of it. I can see it coming... So, listen… just put the work in.”
Don't expect Payton to respond directly to Turner. Whatever his motivations for choosing this moment to unload on Hackett, when Payton has been the head coach in Denver now for six months, he's got bigger fish to fry than sparring with Turner, who, without Hackett's pull, might not even be in the league right now.
The main takeaway from Payton's lambasting of Hackett on Thursday was his defense of Russell Wilson, wherein he blamed "the parents who allowed it," which was the honest-to-God truth, but it also painted Broncos GM George Paton and CEO Greg Penner with the same brush.
Still, nothing Payton said about what happened in Denver last year was wrong. Choosing to air that dirty laundry in public certainly rubbed some people wrong — mainly just Hackett and the people close to him — but nothing he said on that subject was untrue.
Time will tell whether Payton's forecast of the Jets comes out in the wash. But just remember this when it comes to Payton's core philosophy as Denver's new head coach and everything that happened last year.
“Everything I heard about last season, we’re doing the opposite,” Payton said.
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