NFL Exec Claims No Top HC Candidate 'Will Want' Broncos HC Job
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The Denver Broncos have become worse than a laughing stock. If recent reports are true, the Broncos have become radioactive around the NFL.
Heavy's Matt Lombardo published an article breaking down the Broncos' ugly situation with lame-duck head coach Nathaniel Hackett and slumping quarterback Russell Wilson. In it, Lombardo cites multiple anonymous NFL front-office sources, none of whom had anything optimistic to say about Denver's situation on these fronts.
With the expectation that Hackett will be fired at the conclusion of this season (at the latest), I've fretted over the possibility of him only further exacerbating Wilson's regression to the point of no return. That's a concern, which makes it hard for me to understand why the Broncos' new ownership group would be willing to continue rolling the dice on Hackett, but if Wilson can be salvaged, it'll take the right head coach hire to save the day.
“[Wilson] looks done,” an anonymous NFL scouting director told Lombardo. “But they are married to him. So they need to build around him for next year. But good luck getting free agents.”
Recruiting free agents is a bridge Denver will have to cross when the time comes, but before that window opens, the Broncos have bigger fish to fry, and potential obstacles to overcome. According to that scouting director in Lombardo's piece, none of the projected top head-coaching candidates in the 2023 cycle will want the Broncos job.
“Remember, none of the really good candidates will want that job,” the scouting director told Heavy.
Whoever that anonymous source is, one factor missing in his calculus is the wealth of the Broncos' new owners — the Walton/Penner group. Rob Walton, according to Forbes, is the 19th-richest man in the world and the wealthiest owner in the NFL by a wide, wide margin.
That wealth can only impact the Broncos' salary cap in a negligible sense, in terms of having the cash on hand to offer competitive bonuses to prospective free agents. But the hiring of head coaches and general managers, along with other key non-player personnel, happens off the salary cap books.
In other words, the Walton/Penner group could roll out a ridiculous compensation package for the right coach, and it would all be separate from the salary cap. So, when that anonymous Lombardo source uses an absolute like "none of the really good coaches will want that job" — let's just say that money talks, and you-know-what walks.
If the Broncos wanted to blow away any competing team for the services of a head coach, the Walton/Penner group could absolutely do that. All this being said, I don't want to detract from the spirit of what that anonymous scouting director was trying to say.
The Broncos, as an organization, appear to be snake-bitten. Cursed. Again, radioactive.
With Wilson playing literally the worst football of his decorated career, and amid all of the bad ju-ju and injuries in Denver, it's entirely plausible that the Broncos' soon-to-be head-coaching vacancy looks less-than-ideal to top candidates, on the surface. That, I believe.
But nothing rings the bell like money.
That will be what ultimately levels the playing field for the Walton/Penner group's first head-coaching search in Denver. It could coincide with a general manager search, too, if that scouting director is right about Broncos GM George Paton being "on notice," too, on the subject of Hackett's job security.
“Cut your losses,” the scouting director told Heavy. “No way of overcoming this season. I like George [Paton] but he made this hire and trade for Wilson which puts him on notice.”
Many in media believe that Paton is relatively safe. I don't. All three of Paton's big offseason decisions have backfired, blowing up in the faces of the newly-arrived Walton/Penner group.
In many respects, Paton has done enough on the personnel side, specifically the draft, to warrant a one-year probation beyond 2022. On the other, the demons currently possessing the Broncos were conjured by Paton himself, even if it was inadvertent and with the best of intentions.
One way or another, this team has to find a way to exorcise those demons, and shipping Paton out along with Hackett might be how the Walton/Penner group goes about it.
Stay tuned.
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