The Denver Broncos 2022 season has been nothing but a disaster this season under first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Despite acquiring a “franchise” quarterback in Russell Wilson for a hefty haul and bringing in the offensive-minded Hackett, the Denver Broncos have managed to get worse this year, which is saying something after the last five years of the failed coaching tenures of Vic Fangio and Vance Joseph. And although the Denver Broncos are not officially eliminated from playoff contention yet, it would take a borderline miracle to fix this team this year so we are turning our attention to next year.
What would it take to make this Denver Broncos football team a playoff contender next year? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Is this team even fixable with the enormous cap hit that Russell Wilson has and the seemingly significant regression we have seen in his play?
The beauty of the NFL is that anything can happen from year to year, just look at the New York Giants under first-year head coach Brian Daboll.
Outside of magically fixing the Denver Broncos’ cap situation so the Broncos can rid themselves of Russell Wilson or magically fixing his ability to play quarterback, here are the five realistic moves the Denver Broncos must make this upcoming offseason to be a contender next year.
Fire Nathaniel Hackett
Let’s get the easy one out of the way. Nathaniel Hackett needs to be canned the second the Denver Broncos season ends. I know that the previous two head coaches had similarly bad starts record-wise, but this has been nothing short of a complete disaster.
The Denver Broncos have the worst offensive points per game productions since the 2000 Cleveland Browns, who were in their second season as a returning franchise. Not exactly what you expect from an offensive-minded Nathaniel Hackett and a pro-bowl quarterback that you traded several first-round picks for.
Furthermore, the Denver Broncos lead the league in overall penalties and, more importantly, pre-snap penalties which is a better indicator of poor preparation than overall penalties since there are so many more variables that go into play after the ball is snapped.
We haven’t even gotten to the duties Nathaniel Hackett has given up since he was so bad at them. Sure, it is nice to see him put his ego aside because he realizes he isn’t good, but exactly what is he doing now?
Hackett isn’t calling plays anymore.
He can’t manage the clock appropriately so he had to hire someone.
And I would argue that his ability to motivate and inspire his players is non-existent at this point. I mean, what a pathetic performance in Carolina against a team that has sold off a lot of assets, fired its head coach, and for all intents and purposes, is tanking.
Get rid of Hackett. It can’t be worse than this. At this rate, Hackett may go down as one of the worst head coaches in the history of the NFL.