Broncos fire coach Nathaniel Hackett: What’s next for Denver, and how appealing is the job?

The Broncos fired coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday, two weeks before the completion of his first season at the helm, Denver announced. Senior assistant coach Jerry Rosburg has been named interim head coach, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:

Hackett, hired by the Broncos in January after the franchise fired Vic Fangio on the heels of three straight losing seasons, was 4-11 through 15 games and led the team to only one victory since the start of November.
Broncos CEO Greg Penner said Tuesday that he’ll lead the search for a new head coach and that person will report to him rather than general manager George Paton for both instances.
The Broncos were coming off a 51-14 loss to the Rams on Sunday in Los Angeles, a defeat Hackett called “embarrassing” and that featured a sideline altercation between several of the team’s offensive players and the benching of marquee free-agent Randy Gregory following two unsportsmanlike penalties.
Denver has produced arguably its worst offensive season in NFL history. The Broncos have scored only 232 points through 15 games. The previous low to that point in the regular season for a Denver team was 242 in 1992.
Hackett is just the second first-time NFL head coach since 1978 to be fired before completing his first season. Urban Meyer was fired by the Jaguars after a 2-11 start in 2021, but off-field issues were a big reason for his dismissal.
Paton said Tuesday the team hopes to interview current defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero for the head coaching position.
The Broncos also fired special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes and offensive line coach Butch Barry. Mike Mallory will coach special teams and Ben Steele will coach the offensive line.

Backstory

Hackett was hired in January to give life to an offense that had routinely finished in the league’s bottom rung in terms of efficiency since former MVP Peyton Manning retired following a Super Bowl-winning season in 2015. Hackett had been the offensive coordinator for the Packers during a three-season run that saw Green Bay go 39-9 in the regular season, a period that saw quarterback Aaron Rodgers win back-to-back MVP awards. When the Broncos acquired veteran Russell Wilson in a blockbuster trade in Seattle two months after Hackett was hired, the pairing seemed poised to inject immediate life onto the offensive side of the ball for the Broncos.

Instead, the fit between Wilson and Hackett was clunky from the start. The 34-year-old quarterback is having the worst statistical season of his career, Denver ranks last in the NFL in points scored per game (15.47) and the Broncos are the most-penalized team in the league.

The 37-point loss Sunday, Denver’s largest margin of defeat since a 45-point loss to the Raiders in 2010, was just the latest flop on a national stage for Denver, which lost three of four prime-time games to start the season and never recovered.

Hackett made numerous changes in an attempt to change Denver’s fortunes. After an opening two weeks that featured a number of clock-management mishaps, Hackett and the Broncos hired Rosburg, a veteran NFL assistant who had last been the special teams coach for the Ravens, to consult with Hackett on game-management decisions, both during the course of the week and in the games themselves. After a 17-10 loss to the Titans in Week 10 that dropped Denver to 3-6, Hackett relinquished his play-calling duties to quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak.

What Denver said

CEO Greg Penner said in a statement that the decision to fire Hackett two games before the end of the season was made “out of respect for every involved and allows us to immediately began the search for a new head coach.”

“Moving forward, we will carefully evaluate every aspect of our football operations and make whatever changes are necessary to restore this franchise’s winning traction.”

Penner said he will lead the search for a new head coach with support from other members of the team’s ownership group and general manager George Paton. Penner said in the statement that he has confidence in Paton, who hired Hackett in January and executed the trade for Wilson.

“We recognize and respect this organization’s championship history, and we understand we have not met that standard,” Penner said. “Our fans deserve much better, and I can’t say enough about their loyalty during such a challenging stretch for our team.”

We have parted ways with Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett.

A statement from Broncos Owner & CEO Greg Penner: pic.twitter.com/1tWMjHv6em

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 26, 2022

What’s next for the Broncos?

When Denver hires a new head coach in the coming weeks, that person will be the fifth to hold the job with the Broncos since 2016. Gary Kubiak retired following the 2016 season due to health-related issues, Vance Joseph followed with an 11-21 record in two seasons, Vic Fangio went 19-30 in three seasons and Hackett was unable to get through one season before being fired. None of those coaches made the playoffs.

The next head coach will be the first major hire for the team’s new ownership group, led by CEO Greg Penner. Hackett was hired roughly seven months before the group bought the team for $4.65 billion, a record purchase for a North American sports franchise.

Other candidates for the interim coaching role over the final two games of the season included defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and special defensive assistant Dom Capers, the only member of the staff with previous head-coaching experience.

Denver first offered the interim coach job to Evero, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic, but he will continue to focus on the defensive side for the remainder of the season.

How appealing will the opening be for candidates?

Just four months ago, the chance to work with an established, top-tier quarterback like Wilson may have been the most appealing aspect of a potential opening to coach the Broncos. Now, it may be a cause for concern for candidates who just watched Wilson on Sunday turn in his most dreadful performance in a season full of them. The Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year, $245 million contract extension. The quarterback still had two years remaining on the previous contract he signed with the Seahawks in 2019, and in practical terms the deal with Denver was a four-year, $161 million guarantee.

Candidates would want to know how deeply the franchise is committed to Wilson and what the alternate plans would be if the veteran simply can’t rebound from the dismal form he’s shown for most of 2022.

Still, the Broncos’ ownership group has vast resources and the team is one of the NFL’s most recognizable brands, even amid a prolonged stretch of losing that has included seven straight seasons without a playoff appearance.

Required reading

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)