The Denver Broncos fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday, turning the page from a disastrous season. The biggest Broncos issues in 2022 came on offense, where Russell Wilson struggled throughout his first season in Denver following his offseason blockbuster trade from Seattle.
Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner said on Tuesday that he has faith general manager George Paton and Wilson, who signed a lucrative long-term contract after new ownership took over before the start of the season, can turn things around.
"The decision to have Russell here was a long-term one," Penner said. "This season has not been up to his standards or expectations. We saw some glimpses of it in the last few weeks. He knows he can play better, we know he can play better, and we know he will do the right work in the offseason to be ready for next year. George and I have had a chance to get to know each other -- we talk every day since we purchased the team a number of months ago -- and he acknowledged right up front there were a couple of decisions that hadn't worked out as he had expected. But I understand his thought process. He understands the work that needs to be done in this offseason, and I'm going to rely on him heavily as we go through and make these changes."
Wilson's contract makes moving on from the 34-year-old in 2023 prohibitive (even cutting Wilson post-June 1 would carry a $39 million dead cap hit), so the Broncos' best hope is finding a coach who can help the QB return to form.
Paton noted that the coaching change wasn't all about Wilson's play, but he acknowledged they need the QB to improve after the worst year of his career.
"We saw flashes of Russ this year. Russ even said he didn't play up to his standard," Paton said. "He will be the first one to tell you he didn't play up to his standard; didn't play up to our standard. He needs to be better.
"I don't think we made a coaching move based on Russ. That wasn't what it's all about. That's not why we're getting a new coach, to turn around Russ, it's about the entire organization. It's about the entire football team. It's just not one player. It's not whether Russ is fixable or not. We do believe he is. We do."
Penner added that the club planned to wait until the offseason to move on from Hackett, but Sunday's embarrassing loss to Los Angeles and the off-field incidents spurred Monday's firing.
"Would have liked to have been patient until the end of the season to make a decision at that point," the CEO said. "Didn't go into this week thinking this was a time we were going to make a change, but after we saw the effort that we put forward on Sunday. Some of the things that were going on off the field, we just felt like it was time to make a decision and once we had made that decision, it was in all fairness to the organization and in Nathaniel we felt we needed to move forward and make a change."
The Broncos brass continued to suggest Paton would remain the GM, but Penner noted the new coach would report directly to him. It's possible Paton could be let go if the Broncos' desired new head coach insists on hand-selecting his general manager.
Penner added that fellow owners Rob Walton, Carrie Walton Penner and Condoleezza Rice would be a part of the head coaching search.
Denver brass said it hopes to interview defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero for the head coaching job. Evero was offered the interim position for the final two weeks but turned it down, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and James Palmer. Denver named Jerry Rosburg as interim head coach to close the season.
