Jets' Latest Nathaniel Hackett Drama a Recurring Nightmare for Broncos

When Denver Broncos CEO Greg Penner finally saw enough of Nathaniel Hackett as head coach, the damage had been done. Witnesses to the Broncos' abject 51-14 Christmas Day humiliation at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams could tell you the extent to which Hackett was so out of his depth.

To a large extent, the Broncos are still mopping up behind Hackett, although it's now under the much more adult leadership of veteran head coach Sean Payton. Unquestionably, Hackett left behind deep organizational chaos in Denver, which has set the Broncos back considerably. The still-reverberating Hackett fallout forced Denver to reset how it runs its entire operation.

Hackett subsequently landed the offensive coordinator gig with the New York Jets last season. That was a lucky break for the 44-year-old son of a coach, but things are unraveling rather quickly for the embattled play-caller in the Big Apple.

According to an explosive report by SNY's Connor Hughes, the Jets top brass made some "legitimate attempts" to go way above Hackett's job description in an attempt to better run the team's listing offensive operation.

"The Jets made legitimate attempts this offseason to hire someone who would, essentially, replace Hackett. Not as a new offensive coordinator, but a title above who would run the show. The Jets had enough things they needed to address this offseason without replacing areas they're content with. That pursuit tells me, internally, there are legitimate concerns with Hackett's ability to successfully run things," Hughes wrote.

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The sheer extent to which the Jets are seeking to circumnavigate around their Hackett issues is a bonafide car crash. It only further illustrates how the Broncos were right to fire Hackett when they did, making him one of only two head coaches in the Super Bowl era to be fired before his first year is in the books.

On the flip side, as more and more is revealed about Hackett's incompetence, it reflects all the worse on Broncos GM George Paton. Hitting a home run with the Broncos' new draft class might be Paton's best hope of sticking around as the GM. Now that the dust has settled, it's evident that the Hackett hire — for both the Jets and the Broncos — had far more to do with their pursuit of future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Ultimately, the Jets landed Rodgers last year, whereas the Broncos' courtship of the long-time Green Bay Packers star flamed out. Infamously, Paton then made the fateful decision to pivot and trade for Russell Wilson, but that blockbuster deal crashed and burnt out by the roadside, perhaps thanks to Hackett's in-over-his-head influence on the veteran QB's assimilation into the Broncos organization.

It triggered a toxic domino effect, which is now plain for all to see, first for the Broncos and now for their AFC rivals on the East Coast. Once seen as a rising star in NFL coaching circles, Hackett has quickly turned into a lampoon figure with fans and vast swathes of the media.

Let's not forget the extent to which Coach Payton called out Hackett last summer, and in no uncertain terms, for the dismal job he did coaching the Broncos in 2022. While fans might be willing to take aim at the Jets and the hapless Hackett once again, it's worth remembering how badly that backfired on the Broncos last time around when New York strolled into Empower Field and embarrassed Payton's squad in Week 5.

After all, people living in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones.

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