Nathaniel Hackett went from the potential savior of the franchise to public enemy #1. Now with the New York Jets, Hackett's offenses are still outputting pathetic numbers. The 2022 season for the Denver Broncos was one of the worst in team history. There's no other way to sugarcoat it.
What was supposed to be a reborn Broncos' franchise and offense turned into one of the worst offenses the NFL has seen this century. The mastermind behind the offense was Nathaniel Hackett, who had just come off back-to-back seasons with his quarterback winning the NFL MVP award. Many looked at Hackett as the reason why Aaron Rodgers had won those two MVPs.
Rodgers also spoke and continues to speak very highly of Hackett. When he was brought to Denver as the head coach, many thought that Rodgers would follow suit, as he was still a bit unstable with the Green Bay Packers, which began when they drafted Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Well, Aaron Rodgers stayed in GB and the Denver Broncos decided to pursue Russell Wilson instead, hardly a consolation prize. However, the duo of Hackett and Wilson simply did not work. Wilson put on weight in hopes that he could become a pocket passer and have a more structured command of the offense.
Furthermore, it was already pretty clear that Russell Wilson was not that type of quarterback. However, Nathaniel Hackett apparently didn't have the gusto to lay the law down and say that that wasn't the type of QB Wilson was. As a result, the Broncos had the 32nd-ranked scoring offense in the NFL, scoring just 16.9 points per game.
Well, on Thursday, during the Hall of Fame game, Nathaniel Hackett and his Jets' offense put up 16 points, which I think is hilarious. Yes, it's the Hall of Fame game. It's just a preseason game, and most starters aren't even suiting up. There is absolutely no indication that the Jets scoring 16 points in this game is going to spill into the regular season.
However, it is kind of funny to see. In Hackett's first game post-Broncos, his offense couldn't score 20 points. I do think it would be quite funny to see the Jets struggle on offense like that in the regular season. Maybe Aaron Rodgers is indeed over the hump a bit. Maybe Nathaniel Hackett isn't the best play-caller in the world.
Only time will tell.