Comparing Nathaniel Hackett's Coaching Pedigree to Broncos' Three AFC West Head Coach Rivals
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The Denver Broncos hired Nathaniel Hackett as head coach to lead the team back to the playoffs after missing the postseason for each of the past six seasons. Hackett's potential as a play-caller, paired with his infectious enthusiasm, has Broncos Country as excited as ever.
Hackett brings 20 years of coaching experience to the Broncos, 13 of which have been in the NFL. He's been an offensive coordinator in eight of his last nine seasons in the league, most recently serving in the position for the Green Bay Packers (2019-21), after holding the same job for Jacksonville (2016-18) and Buffalo (2013-14).
Hackett has helped lead for teams, across two organizations, to the playoffs since 2017, three of which went as far as the conference championship game. Over that same five-year stretch, he coordinated two top-5 scoring offenses (JAX 2017 and GB 2020).
Hackett is also the son of Paul Hackett, a coaching veteran of a whopping 42 seasons, combining the collegiate and professional levels of football. Paul served as Kansas City's and the New York Jets' offensive coordinator for a combined nine seasons and was head coach of the USC Trojans from 1998-2000. The pedigree is strong in the Hackett family.
Hackett is the only head coach in the AFC West without prior experience in the job. What kind of pedigree does the rest of his division have at head coach?
Broncos fans by now are apprised of Hackett's bonafides, but what of the new lay of the divisional land? Let's break it down.
Andy Reid | Kansas City Chiefs
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Reid will pose the biggest threat to Coach Hackett this season. Reid has 22 years of head-coaching experience, eight of which have been with Kansas City, and only three losing seasons (103-42 record with Chiefs). After a rocky first seven weeks in 2021, analysts and fans wondered whether the Reid/Patrick Mahomes combo had been figured out.
However, Reid rallied his team and went on an eight-game winning streak, catapulting the Cheifs back to an AFC West crown and into the playoffs, where they advanced to the AFC Championship Game (falling to the Cincinnati Bengals. Losing explosive wideout Tyreek Hill hurts the Chiefs in 2022, but Reid will find a way to supplement his production using the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Skyy Moore, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Brandon Staley | Los Angeles Chargers
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Staley led the Chargers to a 9-8 record in his first season as head coach. He's a young, defensive-minded head coach who studied under Vic Fangio for three years — two in Chicago and one in Denver.
Staley made many questionable decisions last year, like calling a timeout vs. Las Vegas in Week 18 and going for it on fourth down numerous times instead of taking the points to put his team ahead. He didn’t have an answer for opposing rushers last season either.
Staley's defense gave up 138.9 yards per game on the ground, including seven games where they surrendered 170-plus rushing yards to opponents. L.A. acquired some shiny new toys for Staley’s defense in former New England cornerback J.C. Jackson and defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day, who played under him as defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams.
Both players will fit in Staley's defense seamlessly.
Josh McDaniels | Las Vegas Raiders
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McDaniels takes over a Raiders team that made the playoffs in 2021 under an interim head coach/special teams coordinator (Rich Bisaccia). McDaniels' only other stint as a head coach was with the Broncos (2009-10) where he lasted not even two full seasons, posting an 11-17 record.
Late Broncos owner Pat Bowlen fired McDaniels well before the end of the second season. McDaniels had been accused of filming the San Francisco 49ers' walk-through practice before a game in London.
Other controversial McDaniels moves included trading prospective franchise quarterback Jay Cutler, on the heels of a Pro Bowl season, and also dealing away star wideout Brandon Marshall. McDaniels spent several more years Tom Brady's offensive coordinator in New England.
This time, McDaniels doesn't have the luxury of a Hall-of-Fame quarterback to bail him out in Vegas. While Derek Carr is a solid QB, he's nowhere near what McDaniels had for most of his career.
McDaniels' play calling will be under the microscope.
The Takeaway
While Hackett is technically the least-experienced head coach in the AFC West, he brought significantly more live-bullet wisdom to the Broncos by virtue of holding an offensive coordinator position at several previous NFL stops, the most recent of which was a three-year stint with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
When the Chargers hired Staley, he came with one paltry year of defensive coordinator experience. His relative green-behind-the-ears comportment came out in the wash on gamedays with many ill-advised decisions that cost his team wins.
Meanwhile, McDaniels has yet to prove that he can cut it as a head coach in the league. Reid remains the king of the AFC West hill until, and unless, Hackett and Russell Wilson can dethrone him in 2022.
Time will tell.
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