“Sean Payton’s dinner buddy playing PR for him”: Colin Cowherd gets criticized by fans for supporting Broncos HC after Russell Wilson’s benching

Sean Payton has copped heat from all corners after deciding to bench Russell Wilson but Colin Cowherd remains firmly in the Broncos head coach's corner. The commentator said it was unfair to blame the manager for the mess since he came in only this year while the quarterback was there from the season before.

Payton is close to Cowherd and fans accused the commentator of taking his buddy's side. They took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their displeasure. Here are some of the reactions.

Russell Wilson generates lot of sympathy for his plight

This situation has not sat right with a lot of fans, including those who criticized Wilson last year. Payton has copped some heat from fans for the way he has treated Wilson.

It was exacerbated by the revelation that after the quarterback led his team to a win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Broncos had sought to open contract negotiations with him to trim his demands.

There was also the clip of the head coach berating his quarterback from their last game. After failing to challenge two calls that looked like touchdowns but were not given, Payton unloaded on his star player on the sidelines.

Russell Wilson has also been let down by other players, especially by the defense during the first few weeks of the season. Shipping 70 points to the Miami Dolphins was a particular low. The Broncos' 1-5 start had a lot to do with their weaknesses on the other side of the ball. Wilson has 29 total touchdowns, which is the sixth-best in the league this year. Among that group, his passer rating of 98.0 is bested only by Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy.

Many commentators, other than Colin Cowherd, feel that Sean Payton has set up Russell Wilson for failure. Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky, for example, went on to chastise the Denver head coach.

Some like Emmanuel Acho went further in saying that it was the head coach who deserved the blame for his quarterback's win-loss record this year.

Looking around, Colin Cowherd looked to be in a small minority of people who were still supporting Sean Payton in this whole affair.