Russell Wilson Lauds the Leadership, Vision of Broncos' HC Nathaniel Hackett
When an elite quarterback forms a union with a head coach, especially one fully focused on tailoring a unique game-plan to suit his specific skill-set, good things tend to happen. The NFL is geared towards facilitating the rise of star signal-callers more than ever, so the trend of employing head coaches to formulate such offensive systems will only continue to gain traction.
It’s fair to say that the Denver Broncos were frustratingly late to the party, but now, GM George Paton’s expanding powerbase has afforded him enough leverage with which to clear out the former coaching staff and trade for his franchise quarterback. Now that Russell Wilson is lining up under center, and head coach Nathaniel Hackett is locked in beside him and designing the offense, the relief is palpable as the Broncos catch up to the rest of the league.
When Wilson spoke with Broncos TV last week, he praised the infectious energy and leadership skills the 42-year-old first-year head coach has brought to the job.
“The part, the unrelenting belief that is necessary to keep winning and to do it throughout the whole season, 17 weeks, hopefully, 21, hopefully, 22 weeks,” Wilson began to detail. “Well, to do that you have to create that and you have to sustain that and have to be able to think through that, 'What did we do here? What did we pull from there?' And I think that’s what we are building and creating. And I think also, too, obviously with new Coach—Coach Hackett, obviously from me being here, I can’t imagine not having OTAs this year. But, for me being here personally, to watch his leadership is really cool. I think that’s kind of changed the evolution of this team and where we go because of his energy, his enthusiasm, with the assistant coaches as well. The city is buzzing and we’ve got to match that, supersede that—break those expectations.”
Clearly, building a common goal throughout OTAs had a massive upside, with Hackett and Wilson subsequently even spending time abroad to further cultivate the seeds of their working relationship and friendship. Laying the foundation is absolutely crucial, as is ratcheting things up a notch or two during the forthcoming training camp sessions, but Hackett is enthusiastically embracing the process.
“First and foremost, we have a long ways to go,” Hackett told the team site. “I mean there is still so much time to practice and get better and grow as a group.”
For the first time perhaps since Peyton Manning and Gary Kubiak departed, Broncos Country genuinely feel they have a QB/HC duo capable of spearheading the NFL vanguard — rather than just bringing up the rear.
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