Story update: After this post was scheduled, Sean Payton said that he regretted the comments he made. Payton said he should have shown “little more restraint.” See our original post below.
Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson has his own personal quarterbacks coach, Jake Heaps, and he had his own office at the team’s facility last season — topics that proved to be controversial last fall.
A quarterback having his own office to study film isn’t abnormal in the NFL, but when the Broncos were struggling, it became a talking point for fans and pundits who criticized the quarterback.
More alarming was the fact that former head coach Nathaniel Hackett — and everyone in Denver’s front office — allowed Wilson’s personal QB coach to work with him at the team’s facility. The Broncos already had a QB coach on staff (Klint Kubiak), but the team allowed Heaps in the facility anyway.
After new head coach Sean Payton was hired earlier this year, he made it clear that no outside coaches would be allowed in the team’s facility going forward. In a recent interview with USA TODAY‘s Jarrett Bell, Payton criticized not only Hackett but also general manager George Paton and team president Damani Leech for letting Heaps in the building last season.
“That wasn’t [Wilson’s] fault,” Payton told Bell. “That was the parents who allowed it. That’s not an incrimination on [Wilson], but an incrimination on the head coach, the GM, the president and everybody else who watched it all happen.
“Now, a quarterback having an office and a place to watch film is normal. But all those things get magnified when you’re losing. And that other stuff [like personal coaches in the building], I’ve never heard of it. We’re not doing that.”
Payton ripped Hackett in his conversation with Bell and he clearly feels that Paton and Leech also mishandled the 2022 season. Leech was hired by the team’s new ownership group and he’s probably not in danger of being let go, especially because he’s more focused on the business side of the team.
Paton, on the other hand, was inherited by the club’s owners and he is directly responsible for football decisions. Payton’s relationship with the GM will be worth monitoring going forward. Payton and Paton have both said they have a good working relationship, but the coach was clearly critical of the GM when he spoke with Bell.
Perhaps it’s water under the bridge now. The Broncos are moving forward and Payton is doing things his way. If the coach and Paton work well together and win games going forward, the front office’s blunders in 2022 will eventually be forgiven and forgotten.
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