Which offensive players might follow Nathaniel Hackett to the Denver Broncos? We take a look at four potential options to consider.
The Denver Broncos have themselves a new head coach in former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Hackett has been with the Packers for the last three seasons where he has undoubtedly developed lasting relationships with a lot of players, a few of which we in Broncos Country should have on the radar.
The Packers don’t have a ton of free agents on the offensive side of the ball at positions of need for the Denver Broncos, but we’re going to look at four players, in particular, that Hackett may want to bring with him to the Mile High City.
Some will be more obvious than others…
Which offensive players might Nathaniel Hackett bring from the Packers to the Broncos?
1. Robert Tonyan, TE
One Green Bay Packers free agent that everyone should be keeping some tabs on is free agent tight end Robert Tonyan who is coming off of an unfortunate injury that cut his 2021 season to just eight total games.
Wait a minute, why would the Denver Broncos target Robert Tonyan now that Nathaniel Hackett is the head coach? Shouldn’t we all just be excited about Noah Fant and Albert Okwuegbunam?
Absolutely we should be.
However…
Let’s just say the Denver Broncos try to strike a trade for a certain quarterback in Green Bay. The fact that Tonyan is a free agent in addition to the fact that this player could really sweeten the deal leads me to believe that Noah Fant might be a coveted piece for the Green Bay Packers in a hypothetical trade scenario.
Fant has multiple years left of team control and he’s an ascending player at the position the Packers might want.
If the Broncos try to trade for Aaron Rodgers, Fant could be part of the deal. If he is, Tonyan is a guy who obviously has ties to both Hackett and Rodgers. He has 13 touchdowns in his last 24 games, including 11 in his breakout 2020 season.
Additionally, Tonyan is on-brand in terms of his athleticism and what the Broncos have been looking for there.
Even though he’s coming off of injury, if the Broncos have to trade either Noah Fant or Albert Okweugbunam to acquire a star QB, Tonyan could make some sense to bring in.