The Denver Broncos are once again one of the premier franchises in football, but there was a time when things never seemed lower. Fans are counting down the play clock, less than one passing touchdown per game on average, and no first-round pick to go along with it. The Broncos were at rock bottom and were approaching Cleveland Browns territory.
The captain of the sinking ship is arguably one of the worst head coaches in recent memory. The Broncos hired Nathaniel Hackett to follow up Vic Fangio as their top man, and it is the most disasterous head coaching tenure in team history. Hackett was a highly respected hire for the Broncos, and some even believed that he would be a great head coach, but it failed quickly.
Hackett was fired after less than one season at the helm, and the Broncos quickly hired Sean Payton the following spring. Hackett would be the final straw in arguably the darkest period in franchise history and inspire the new Broncos ownership group to bring in a true winner in Sean Payton. In his years since Denver, Hackett has bounced around the league at the lower levels, but his name resurfaced shockingly on Thursday night.
Nathaniel Hackett has returned to the AFC in a shocking way for the 2026 season
Since being fired from Denver, Hackett had a disastrous tenure in New York as the Jets' offensive coordinator before taking a role as a defensive assistant back in Green Bay. Hackett hasn't worked on an NFL offensive staff since 2024, but that seemingly has changed. After a disastrous season in 2025 that resulted in the firing of their head coach, the Dolphins are tabbing one of the worst head coaches in recent memory as their new quarterbacks coach.
According to Dan Graziano of ESPN, the Dolphins are bringing in Hackett as their new quarterbacks coach. Hackett has worked with some of the best quarterbacks in the league, including being there for some of the best seasons of Aaron Rodgers' career, but his other work has been forgettable. He oversaw, arguably, the worst season in league history by a good quarterback in Russell Wilson's 2022 season, and Rodgers' 2024 season that led the Jets to a 5-12 record.
Hackett's initial appeal as a head coaching candidate years ago was his work with Aaron Rodgers, and the possibility that Rodgers would have wanted to follow Hackett to Denver. It seemed like, at the time, GM George Paton wanted to install a duo of Hackett and Rodgers for a few seasons. When Rodgers didn't get traded, they pivoted to Russell Wilson, but not only was Wilson already 'damaged good,' but Hackett himself wasn't close to head coaching material.
As Broncos fans know very well by now, hiring Hackett to your offensive staff hasn't worked out in some time. Going from a defensive assistant to quarterbacks coach is quite a jump, and it isn't exactly the move that free agent quarterbacks will be jumping all over. This is a gamble, and not even a calculated one, that might blow up in the face of new Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley.