The Denver Broncos wasted Russell Wilson's 2022 season due to the hiring of Nathaniel Hackett, and now in 2023, they are wasting another year as the defense forgets how to play football. At this point, I genuinely feel bad for Russell Wilson. George Paton was the man who orchestrated the trade back in early 2022, and he's now wasted two straight years to begin the Wilson era in Denver, and there's probably a chance that we only get two years of Wilson in the Mile High City.
What more can Russell Wilson do? Sure, in 2022, he deserved some of the blame for the poor offense, but it's becoming more and more clear that Hackett was the primary reason for Wilson's poor play. The offense that they tried to install was simply not working with what the QB does best as a passer and runner. And with Wilson in his 30s, that 2022 year was a crucial year that the organization wasted away.
Wilson isn't 28 years old anymore. Each year of his career is more and more valuable, especially if he's an efficient passer. It's evident that in 2022, Hackett's hands were the dirtiest in terms of the offense not working. And now in 2023, the organization has the complete opposite issue. Sean Payton has clearly been able to mold Wilson back into the elite passer he once was, but all of a sudden, the defense is truly awful.
Payton takes some of the blame for hiring Vance Joseph, who should probably be fired at this point, but it's George Paton who takes more of the blame for constructing a defense that doesn't have nearly enough talent as some of us thought. The defensive line is atrocious. The linebackers seem to be more average than anything, and the secondary is awful outside of Patrick Surtain II.
This all falls on Paton, as Sean Payton hardly touched the defense when he got here, and I don't blame him, since it was one of the best units in football last year. The Russell Wilson era is off to a horrible start, and it's really not the quarterback's fault at all. He's playing extremely well in 2023, still ranking 12th in passing yards, 2nd in touchdown passes, and 4th in passer rating. Wilson is not the issue.
I feel bad for the QB. He gives it his all each and every week, and the organization he specifically wanted a trade to is ruining everything.