I get that Rick was cocky and arrogant in 6b but I don't really understand why people are so angry at him for it? He had reason to be! He had never come across an enemy he couldn't defeat, he found a home, he fell in love like...? I would be cocky too.

I don’t even think Rick was being as cocky as people were saying he was. It’s not like he was being a douche bag. He was just confident and finally felt safe. He had come so far. He’d built something. Found love, kept his kids safe, started to create a new life. He earned this. He earned the bragging rights after everything he’s been through. He’s been to hell and back and encountered some of the most horrific things imaginable. People never want to cut Rick some slack though. He has to suffer and feel guilt at all times. He’s never allowed to be happy. He’s always doing something wrong. Everyone wants to blame him for everything that goes wrong. If anyone was being cocky, it was Daryl tbh. And Abe. They are both the ones that encountered Negan’s men and thought they weren’t anything to worry about and all show. Daryl volunteered them to take out Negan and his men. Rick just went along with it and stated what was true, that they’ve never had issue with this kind of thing before. They’ve made there way out of every situation. Rick has always had a plan. Sure, it was a little naive to let themselves get comfortable and to volunteer for this without even really checking out The Saviors at first. But the thing is, they needed food. They needed what Hilltop had to offer. There wasn’t much else they had to offer in return aside from their strength. It makes sense. It really wasn’t so much about being arrogant. It was about earning the right to be at the point they were at. It was about learning to survive and adapt in this world. And if you want to do that, you have to be confident and sometimes cocky at this point.