The Denver Broncos are hiring Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to be the team’s new head coach, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.
Hackett, who has worked with quarterbacks at all phases on the developmental curve, was scheduled to interview with the Jaguars on Thursday, but the Broncos stepped in Wednesday night to get a deal done to prevent him from going to Jacksonville, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
It will be Hackett’s first time as a head coach, and he becomes the team’s fourth different coach since the start of the 2016 season. He replaces Vic Fangio, who was fired this month after going 7-10 this season — the team’s fifth consecutive losing season.
NFL Network first reported the news.
Of all the offensive assistants interviewed by the Broncos, Hackett had the deepest résumé as a former playcaller for both Buffalo and Jacksonville before his time with the Packers.
During interviews with Denver, he had to detail how he would make the transition to running the entire team as well as the construction of the defensive staff. Also, Hackett had to answer how he would keep his game day organized if he, as a first-time head coach, was also going to try to call plays.
The Broncos feature a young roster, with about $50 million worth of salary-cap space projected according to general manager George Paton and 11 picks already in hand for this April’s draft.
Hackett, 42, was the Jaguars’ quarterbacks coach from 2015 to 2016 and offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2018 before getting fired in the middle of the 2018 season. The Jaguars reached the AFC Championship Game in the 2017 season.
When his father, Paul, was on Marty Schottenheimer’s Kansas City Chiefs staff, Hackett was a ball boy for the team and even filled in as a long-snapper during drills at times. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has lauded Hackett’s preparation and ability to break down, as well as deliver, the information to players.
Since Mike Shanahan was hired in 1995, the only Broncos head coaches to take the team to the playoffs had been head coaches before: Shanahan, John Fox and Gary Kubiak. None of the three first-time head coaches during that span (Josh McDaniels, Vance Joseph and Fangio) made it past three seasons.
The Broncos’ defense finished among the league’s top 10 in most major categories this season, and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw for a career-best 18 touchdowns despite missing the final three games with a concussion.
But Denver’s consistently balky offense and inconsistent special teams play ultimately cost Fangio, who went 19-30 in his three years on the job.
Bridgewater was the 10th different quarterback to start at least one game for the Broncos since Week 13 of the 2016 season, a total that doesn’t include running back Philip Lindsay opening behind center in the 2020 game vs. the Saints.
ESPN’s Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.
