Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett Pinpoints Two Most Important QB Traits: 'Toughness and Intelligence'

Nathaniel Hackett sent a strong message to Drew Lock indirectly on Friday.

The Denver Broncos are buzzing right now. 

Still basking in the glow of Nathaniel Hackett's introductory press conference at UCHealth Training Center, the Denver Broncos have now begun the process of gelling and closing ranks around their new head coach. 

Hackett's first exposure to Denver media and Broncos Country, in a word, was exuberant. If Friday's presser was the tip of the iceberg, there's little doubt that he'll bring an energetic spark to a Broncos franchise that has been somnolent for the past half-decade. 

Although Hackett and GM George Paton addressed a wide range of topics, one topic that did not come up was that of Drew Lock. The fourth-year quarterback is one of the players in Denver who stands to gain the most from Hackett's arrival and hands-on coaching style. 

Despite Lock's name not coming up, Hackett did let fans in on how he views the quarterback position and specifically, what two traits he values most in a signal-caller. 

“I say toughness and intelligence," Hackett said of the quarterback. "Those are the two things. Quarterbacks take some massive hits and they’ve got to still get up. It’s both mentally and physically because they have to talk and answer for a lot of things. It’s one of the hardest positions in all of football from that point [of toughness]. Then intelligence is so important to be able to do the different things you would like to do on offense.”

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At this stage in his career, it would be difficult to question Lock's toughness. He's battled through injuries and went through the emotional turbulence of being demoted as the Broncos' starting quarterback, only to play solid football in the three games he started at season's end. 

Lock wasn't able to deliver a win for the Broncos in those three games, but he showed the former coaching regime, as well as Paton, that he'd taken some of the hard lessons 2021 had to teach him to heart. And he proved that he can walk the razor's edge of protecting the football while maintaining an aggressive approach in the passing game. 

What of Lock's football IQ, though? That intangible trait is one that has frankly been questioned by outside critics since before he was drafted to the Broncos. Rumors abound but we haven't heard anyone who's coached or played with Lock say anything that would call his intelligence into question. 

If we learned anything from Hackett's hello presser, it's that from a personality perspective, it would seem that he and Lock have a lot in common. Both take a childlike joy in the game of football and both have an infectious positivity. 

My guess is that Hackett and Lock will hit it off but that doesn't mean that the young signal-caller will be Denver's starting quarterback Day 1. However, if you look at the long odds of acquiring a veteran quarterback like Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson, or landing the right prospect in the 2022 NFL draft, Lock has the best odds of being this team's starter come Week 1. 

As Paton said on Friday, the Broncos have a "long way to go" when it comes to catching up to the offensive juggernauts in the AFC West. But if this team is going to bridge the gap, whether it's Lock or someone else, Hackett will have to develop a plan at quarterback. 

Hackett sounds like an offensive-minded head coach that knows exactly where to start in such a pursuit. 

“When you’re developing a quarterback, I think all quarterbacks need to have success," Hackett said. "You need to be sure that you’re protecting them and whenever you’re dealing with a young quarterback you want to be sure, and even with an older quarterback, you want to be sure you’re always protecting them. You do that with both protection with the offensive line and running the football. I think that’s kind of the best way to be able to always make sure that they’re having success and able to have clean pockets."

Hackett also recognizes that developing a QB is about time on task. For all the warts to Lock's game, one good thing about the past three seasons is that the young signal-caller has received a lot of reps. 

He missed out on the lion's share of the first-team reps last season, but Lock has 21 NFL starts under his belt. If the Broncos need to fall back on Lock in what will be the final year on his rookie contract, at least Hackett has the QB's live-bullet experience to draw on.

"It’s about that—a lot of people say the 10,000-rep count," Hackett said. "It’s about continually working and continually staying in it. I think that’s why I’m so lucky to be here right now is because it’s going to be a continuous offense. The offense is going to be here for a long time so you bring somebody in and develop them, and they can get the reps. They can get the understanding of one play because when you start calculating the analytical data on one play, the different things that can happen in each one throughout all the different coverages."

Hackett's final remark on the quarterback subject exposes why football IQ is so crucial at the position.  

"There are so many different things that can happen in one play for a quarterback so I think it’s always working with them, always teaching them, and letting them get a comfort level so they can go out there and play and have that ‘can’t stop me mentality’. I always talk about that," Hackett said. "That’s what you want that quarterback to have when he gets out there.”

It sounds like Hackett's brain is thinking about bringing a quarterback in to develop, reading between the lines, that is. But we know that one of the key questions Paton had for the 10 interviewees for the Broncos' head-coaching job was what each guy's plan to maximize Lock would be. 

Paton confirmed before the head-coaching search began that Lock would factor into Denver's QB solution in 2022 while also making it clear that he would test each candidate's knowledge of the draft class and offensive plan. 

"No doubt. Definitely," Paton said back on January 9. "How Drew did this year and kind of how he evolved, we want every candidate to have an opinion on Drew. How are you going to get the best out of Drew? Do they have knowledge of the college quarterbacks? Do you have knowledge of the free-agent quarterbacks? Who have you been around and what's your ideal quarterback? What type of philosophy are you going to run on offense? It's a big conversation when you're interviewing these guys."

Part of Hackett's allure was his plan to improve all three football phases for the Broncos. But as much as he doesn't want to take a step back defensively post-Vic Fangio, Paton knows that figuring out how to elevate the offense in order to fight fire with fire in the AFC West will be paramount. 

"We need to get better on offense and we need to score a lot more points," Paton said on Friday. "We need to be more explosive and more exciting for our great fans.”

There's your brief, Coach Hackett. Now make it so. 

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