Cowboys Coach Dan Quinn to Broncos as Nathaniel Hackett Fired?
FRISCO - Last off-season, it seemed a foregone conclusion: Dan Quinn was going to utilize his one successful springboard as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator back to the top of his profession and be hired by the Denver Broncos as their head coach.
Today, the Broncos are almost certainly wishing they had followed through with that foregone conclusion.
Nathaniel Hackett has just been fired by the Broncos in the midst of a year that makes his Denver team the disappointment of the NFL.
Hackett, never before a head coach, was chosen for his offensive prowess after spending time with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. But none of that has transferred to Denver, which after its 51-14 Christmas Day debacle of a loss at the Rams, has a 4-11 record.
That’s not how the Broncos management mapped this out when it made a blockbuster trade for Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson in the offseason. … a deal that leaves the Denver cupboard bare to some degree because of the draft picks spent.
The Broncos expected to fight for a Super Bowl berth? Sure. And make the playoffs for the first time since 2015? Definitely.
But suddenly, those expectations are gone, and so is Hackett, who had overseen the NFL’s least productive offense.
Will Denver chase Quinn again? That seems likely, and same with Dallas offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who also interviewed with the Broncos a year ago. (And of course there will be Sean Payton gossip, just as Payton will want there to be.)
It is however worth noting that as CowboysSI.com was first to report a year ago, the Jones family created a “comfortable” way to keep Quinn on staff … and he once again is a pivotal figure for the playoff-bound Cowboys.
In addition to the Jones’ commitment to Quinn (once head coach of a Super Bowl team in Atlanta), he told CowboysSI.com that he stayed at The Star “because I have unfinished business here.”
What needs to unfold next? How unattractive has Denver become? And what happens with Quinn if he and the Super Bowl-minded Cowboys “finish that business”?
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