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.
Beg Mike Munchak to come back
When diving into the numbers, they aren’t exactly screaming to bring Mike Munchak back into the fold. The Pro Football Focus numbers have the Denver Broncos run blocking grade this year at 64. In the previous three seasons under Mike Munchak, it was 67.1, 58, and 61.1. Similarly, the Denver Broncos’ pass-blocking grade this year is 65.5. In the previous three seasons, it was 71.4, 62.5, and 74.3.
Two important caveats to this are that Pro Football Focus grades are not the end-all-be-all of evaluation metrics but they are one tool to utilize, and in this case, they don’t accurately paint the picture of the impact Mike Munchak had on this offensive line. The other caveat is that your line is only as good as your quarterback and coordinator meaning if your quarterback holds the ball too long or your coordinator isn’t setting you up for success with the play calling, you’re are likely to see some regression with a line (which I believe is certainly in play here as well).
My biggest argument stands with the play of one player, Garett Bolles. Bolles was considered a bust before Mike Munchak arrived. Under Mike Munchak, Bolles cut his penalties by over 50% going from 14 and 15 in his first two years in the league to 8 and 7 in his last two seasons with Munchak. This year, without Munchak, he was on pace for a career-high 18 penalties. Moreover, his run-blocking and pass-blocking grades were trending at pre-Munchak levels.
As a unit, we’ve seen a massive amount of success for offensive lines in Denver and Pittsburgh under the tutelage of Mike Munchak.
Finally, it would be good to have a stabilizing force on the offensive side of the ball. This becomes even more important if the Denver Broncos are looking to promote Ejiro Evero to head coach next year.
Munchak has yet to accept a job elsewhere, and he is still in the Denver area. It was wrong of him to be let go last year when Nathaniel Hackett joined the organization, but bringing him back would make things right.
Denver Broncos need to fix the RB situation
What looked like a promising situation entering this season quickly turned sour for the Denver Broncos. Promising second-year running back Javonte Williams tore his ACL paving the way for the much-maligned former Chargers Pro Bowl running back Melvin Gordon to assume the starting role once again. Unfortunately, that was a disaster in every imaginable way from the repeatedly poor-timed fumbles to the ineffectiveness of pass blocking to the obvious disinterest and sideline frustration after being benched.
As we all know now, Melvin Gordon is no longer a Denver Bronco, and I would be shocked to find a single Denver Bronco fan who was upset about that.
The current stable of Denver Bronco running backs is a bunch of journeymen in Latavius Murray, Chase Edmunds, and Marlon Mack. It is undoubtedly not who you want to bring into next season as your running back group with Javonte Williams trying to return from a major injury.
A few months ago, I wrote about several options the Denver Broncos could and still should pursue at the running back position, and I believe it even more to this day. In fact, I think the Broncos should target an above-average free agent running back addition and use an early day three pick on a running back. Worst case scenario, Javonte Williams isn’t able to come back to pre-injury form and you have one solid running back and a young guy with potential. In the best-case scenario, you have three above-average running backs, which is never a bad thing as we’ve seen this year with that room getting annihilated.
More importantly, if the Denver Broncos are looking to get whatever ounce of potential is left out of Russell Wilson, they will need to have a better run game.
Reinforce the OL
The Denver Broncos offensive line has been wrecked by injuries and poor play this season. Starting left tackle Garrett Bolles went down with a season-ending injury, and we’ve seen nine offensive linemen take 50 or more snaps this season.
Former second-round pick Dalton Risner, although an amazing person off the field, has been less than stellar on the field and has yet to receive a contract offer from his hometown team. Given his performance since his rookie season, I imagine the Denver Broncos aren’t rushing to the table to bring him back nor should they be. This year, he has graded out as the 54th-best overall guard and 74th in run blocking according to Pro Football Focus. He is also 11th in pressure allowed.
Risner’s counterpart, the former prize of free agency, Graham Glasgow hasn’t fared any better while grading out as the 70th-best overall guard with the 67th best run blocking grade.
Think it can’t get worse? Think again. At the center position, former LSU product Lloyd Cushenberry has graded out as the 34th-best center.
Despite the current salary situation of Russell Wilson, the Denver Broncos still have the 14th most cap room heading into next season with six picks. The cupboard isn’t completely bare, but general manager George Paton will need to get creative so he can get reinforcements for this offensive line if they want to quickly improve next season.
With the regression of Russell Wilson, the Denver Broncos need to look long and hard about becoming a powerhouse running team and it starts in the trenches with the offensive line.
Denver Broncos must get a backup quarterback
Yes, I realize there are probably bigger holes on the roster than the backup to Russell Wilson but hear me out. Russell has been terrible this year. He has also been playing injured.
No offense to Bretty Rypien, but he doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Denver Bronco fans across the country, and he will never be more than a below-average backup. This means the decision of whether to start an ailing Russell Wilson or not becomes that much more difficult, and I imagine that we will find out just how serious Russell Wilson was hurt this season in the following months.
Furthermore, if Russell Wilson is healthy but continues to stink up the place, the Denver Broncos need someone they could be willing to turn to if things continue to go south next year.
And finally, the Denver Broncos need to do a better job of investing in the quarterback position in general. The Green Bay Packers did a phenomenal job of this back in the Brett Favre era, and all it takes is investing in day three quarterbacks with potential.
So whether it is a talented rookie (and there are several guys that could fit this bill landing on day 2 or 3 of the NFL Draft this year), or spending a bit more money on a veteran quarterback like Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold, the Denver Broncos need to do something here. Option B of our quarterback situation shouldn’t be playing an injured Russell Wilson and option C of our quarterback situation shouldn’t be playing a really injured Russell Wilson.
There are plenty of other things George Paton needs to do next year to ensure the Denver Broncos can be playoff contenders like locking up Dre’Mont Jones among other things, but these are the most important five. We’ve seen just how impressive this defense is now imagine if the Denver Broncos offense could even be average.