Another Nathaniel Hackett Profile...

[Mr. Scot]

...this time from The Athletic's Broncos writer Nick Kosminder.

How Broncos head coachinh candidate Nathaniel Hackett could check several important boxes

Excerpts:

...Broncos general manager George Paton has continually emphasized leadership as the top quality desired in his new head coach because he wants someone who can more deeply connect with players, who can shake them from the pain of a loss before one defeat turns into two and then three and then four, the kind of losing streaks that ultimately sunk each of Vic Fangio’s three seasons. A coach who stiff-arms the here-we-go-again feeling that has permeated the organization the past six years whenever the first sign of adversity strikes.

The Broncos want someone, as president and CEO Joe Ellis put it simply last week, who can inspire.

...

That brings us to Nathaniel Hackett, who interviewed for the Broncos’ vacancy Saturday morning. The 42-year-old Packers offensive coordinator has also had head-coaching interviews with the Bears and Jaguars and has been requested to be interviewed for the vacancy with the Vikings. His emergence as one of the league’s most sought-after candidates to run a team this cycle is based in no small part on his ability to connect with players in a way that leaves a lasting impact.

“It’s energy, energy, energy, energy,” Antwon Bailey, a running back for Syracuse during Hackett’s two seasons there as offensive coordinator (2010-11), told The Athletic this week when asked to describe his former coach’s approach. “He’s a coach who loves football, knows a lot about football and loves to have fun. Those three things are going to be present at all times when Coach Hackett is around.”

There is always something to be said for consistency, to knowing what to expect from a coaching staff week in and week out. There is also value in being challenged by a variety of methods. Focus sharpens when you know a standard Wednesday morning can take any variety of twists and turns.

...

In Hackett, we’re talking about a coach who changed the name of the red zone for the Packers to the gold zone, in an ode to one of his favorite characters from the “Austin Powers” series, Goldmember.

“We love his energy. It keeps us awake and alive, makes the meetings even more fun,” Packers wide receiver Davante Adams told reporters last season. “Everything he does, he brings his personality in — just kind of his Hackettness, we’ll call it. So we definitely appreciate that. It just makes coming to work a little bit more fun.”

Nick Provo played tight end in Hackett’s offense at Syracuse for two seasons. He then signed with Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2013, after Hackett had followed former Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone to Buffalo. Provo was asked by teammates ahead of training camp what they should expect from their young new offensive coordinator.

Stay on your toes, Provo told them.

...

“He definitely gets us more energized, having a coach out there who is passionate,” Provo told Syracuse.com during his rookie NFL training camp. “Because we come out here every day and sometimes you just don’t have that drive to go some days. He definitely gets you going.”

Hackett was profiled in two national outlets this past fall, Sports Illustrated and The Washington Post, and each featured a number of former players who quickly came to the conclusion, as former Jaguars and one-time Broncos backup Blake Bortles put it, that Hackett is “really not like the rest of them.”

“I just really, really can’t express enough how important he is to our team in so many ways,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters last season. “He’s incredible in front of the room. He brings a lot of great energy that’s really important to meetings that can sometimes, without the energy he infuses, maybe get long at times. Never feels that way with him in front of the room … Hack has really embraced the idea of celebration together, as well, which I think is such a vital part of us coming together and being a close-knit group.”

...

For Hackett, creating an engaging environment hasn’t been just about being impressive in the meeting room. It’s also about challenging the players — and himself — conceptually on offense, blending the things he has learned during a lifetime of football with new ideas, including ones that come from his players. When Hackett got to Syracuse as the offensive coordinator in 2010, he came armed with a playbook born in the West Coast offense, much of it learned from his father, longtime NFL assistant Paul Hackett. But Bailey remembers being struck by just how willing and even eager Hackett was to incorporate other principles into his scheme.

“He’s not afraid to adapt,” said Bailey, who exploded for 1,251 total yards and seven touchdowns in Hackett’s offense as a senior in 2011. “He’s not afraid to push the envelope. He does some things that aren’t truly West Coast. He adapted and was one of the early guys onto the RPO scene in college. He pushed the envelope as far as being West Coast but going no-huddle. He’s not afraid at all to try new things and learn new things, and that’s refreshing to see as a player. As a player, you’re expected to learn and grow and adapt and change. So to see a coach doing the same thing is refreshing.”

...

Bailey, who is now an offensive coordinator at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., and says he still draws on many of the things he learned from Hackett, used to sneak into quarterback meetings frequently during his senior year at Syracuse. Only they weren’t so much meetings as they were an open exchange of ideas. The conversations with quarterback Ryan Nassib, backup Charley Loeb and others on the depth chart, were never one-sided, Bailey said. Yes, Hackett was in control, but he also pushed players to challenge him.

“Here’s a guy from that lineage and that football family who has been around it forever, but he’s willing to try new things,” Bailey said.

...

Does the head coach the Broncos hire need to be a quarterback guru? No. Part of successful NFL operation is delegating tasks big and small, hiring coaches who fit your philosophy and help players adapt to it. But given all the issues the Broncos have had creating stability at quarterback since Peyton Manning retired, Hackett’s experience turning Bortles into a playoff-winning starter in Jacksonville and helping Rodgers produce some of the best seasons of his career as he approaches his 40s has to be viewed as a plus.

“There’s nobody in the building that brings me more joy or is more fun to be around than Nathaniel Hackett,” Rodgers said last season. “He’s become such a close confidant and friend besides a fantastic coach. … Hack has been a really important part of our culture change and a part of our success on offense. I love him. Hope he doesn’t go anywhere. Unless I do.”

_________________________

Yeah, I know we don't have a chance to get him here because for whatever reason our dumbsh-t owner is tied to Matt Rhule, but damn

[Waldo]

Certainly more fun than talking about trading for Cousins but also a lot less realistic. Have we even talked to 1 OC candidate that could be described as a good yet?

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Certainly more fun than talking about trading for Cousins but also a lot less realistic. Have we even talked to 1 OC candidate that could be described as a good yet?

Sadly, it's not so much about realistic options as it is lamenting how horribly David Tepper is running (read: ruining) this franchise.

The disparity between what we could have and what we do have is...depressing.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Mr. Scot

[Waldo]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

Sadly, it's not so much about realistic options as it is lamenting how horribly David Tepper is running (read: ruining) this franchise.

The disparity between what we could have and what we do have is...depressing.

It's also important for the context of how bad we are and are doing right now. I get it and thank you for your work. People will buy into the BS this year, I am not but I still like the idea that 2023 can be a lot better...just in case we get to hope again.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Waldo said:

It's also important for the context of how bad we are and are doing right now. I get it and thank you for your work. People will buy into the BS this year, I am not but I still like the idea that 2023 can be a lot better...just in case we get to hope again.

Funny that you mention Cousins as there's pretty heavy speculation that Hackett will land the Vikings job.

It'd make sense. The Vikings have certainly seen plenty of his work.

[BurnNChinn]

Yeah I think he’s a great HC candidate but really talking about it doesn’t do us any good. Fhule is going to be back this year might as well start getting depressed.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, BurnNChinn said:

Yeah I think he’s a great HC candidate but really talking about it doesn’t do us any good. Fhule is going to be back this year might as well start getting depressed.

It's just the particular wall I'm banging my head against this offseason.

Being a Panther fan, I have to find a new one on a fairly regular basis

[Waldo]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

Funny that you mention Cousins as there's pretty heavy speculation that Hackett will land the Vikings job.

It'd make sense. The Vikings have certainly seen plenty of his work.

It would be a good move for them. There is a lot of BS around candidates and players but Hackett looks legit. I just don't know anything about the Vikings anymore. The power dynamics and putting people in positions to succeed is so hard when looking at HCs and GMs, and then you throw in the curve balls from ownership. 

[BrianS]

So, instead of Rhule, we could have a chance at a guy who many teams view as the next offensive mind.

Yet here we are . . . 

[top dawg]

Have I missed a change of rules, have a misunderstanding or am I just plain ignorant about the rules? I thought that we could only interview personnel if they are making a vertical move, not  a lateral one.

[mc52beast]

This search by Rhule is going to be difficult, he knows he needs an upgrade at OC but doesn’t want someone capable of taking his job.

[Dory]

I mean, is the team who hires Hackett getting Aaron Rodgers, too? Because Aaron Rodgers is the only reason why people know this guys name

[BrianS]

1 hour ago, Dory said:

I mean, is the team who hires Hackett getting Aaron Rodgers, too? Because Aaron Rodgers is the only reason why people know this guys name

Incorrect.

Hackett's best year, arguably, was 2017 when he was OC for the Jags.  That team was the #5 scoring offense in the league . . . helped them get to the AFC Championship game . . . with Blake Bortles as the starting QB.

Don't look at his work with Green Bay as the Aaron Rodgers effect.  Look at Green Bay as "Here's what happens when you give Hackett exceptional tools"

[Cuttinedge]

It’s a shame at this time we have one of the richest owners who could lure hackett to Carolina with a boatload of money.  But instead we’ll be relegated another year to rhule foolball  and some ball boy OC