I respect the honesty. I've seen people accuse him of not having similar energy for Russ but...he's gotten rid of all the bullshyt perks Hackett allowed Russ to have. No more personal office, no more non-train trainers allowed in the building. Payton has clearly established who is in charge, but that doesn't mean he has to shyt on Russ. I think Russ will be good this year with proper coaching and play calling.
Hackett is a perfect example of the white mediocrity that rules the NFL. Only difference was that he couldn't even pretend to be competent enough, or hide the lack of qualifications with coach speak. What's the difference between him and Matt Patricia for instance? Patricia kept his job a couple years and avoided nonstop clock management fukk ups, but outside of that they're the same person. Guys who work long hours until they convince the right person that they can be a head coach, with zero accomplishments on the resume.