Russell Wilson has had the worst season of his career this year but the Denver Broncos ownership still has faith in him.
Monday marked the end of a dismal season for the Denver Broncos, who decided to turn the page by firing head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Russell Wilson has had a difficult first season on offense for the Denver Broncos after being traded there in a blockbuster deal from Seattle over the summer. As a result, the offensive unit was the source of most of the team’s problems in 2022.
Greg Penner, the owner, and CEO of the Broncos stated on Tuesday that he had trusted that general manager George Paton and quarterback Russell Wilson, who signed a hefty long-term contract after new ownership took over the team before to the start of the season, can turn things around.
Speaking about Wilson, Greg Penner said, “The decision to have Russell here was a long-term one, This season has not been up to his standards or expectations. We saw some glimpses of it in the last few weeks. He knows he can play better, we know he can play better, and we know he will do the right work in the offseason to be ready for next year.”
He added, “I understand his thought process. He understands the work that needs to be done in this offseason, and I’m going to rely on him heavily as we go through and make these changes.”
Because of Wilson’s deal, it will be impossible for the Broncos to move on from the 34-year-old quarterback in 2023 (even releasing Wilson after June 1 would carry a dead cap charge of $39 million), thus the Broncos’ only chance is to find a coach who can assist the quarterback regain his form.
Although Paton pointed out that the change in coaching wasn’t only due to Wilson’s performance, he did agree that the team needs the quarterback to rebound following the worst year of his career.
Penner went on to say that the club had planned to wait until the summer to move on from Hackett, but that Sunday’s humiliating loss to Los Angeles and the off-field occurrences led to Hackett’s dismissal on Monday.
Penner said that the new coach will report directly to him, despite the fact that the Broncos brass continued to indicate that Paton would continue in his role as general manager. In the event that the Broncos’ desired new head coach insists on hand-picking his general manager, it is probable that Paton will be dismissed go from his position.
Speaking about firing Hackett, Penner said, “Would have liked to have been patient until the end of the season to make a decision at that point,” Didn’t go into this week thinking this was a time we were going to make a change, but after we saw the effort that we put forward on Sunday.”
He added, “Some of the things that were going on off the field, we just felt like it was time to make a decision and once we had made that decision, it was in all fairness to the organization and in Nathaniel we felt we needed to move forward and make a change.”
Penner also mentioned that other owners, such as Rob Walton, Carrie Walton Penner, and Condoleezza Rice, will be involved in the process of finding a new head coach.
Ejiro Evero, who now serves as the defensive coordinator for Denver, is expected to be a candidate for the head coaching position. According to Tom Pelissero and James Palmer of the NFL Network, Evero was made an offer for the temporary post, which would have lasted for the last two weeks, but he declined it. Jerry Rosburg will serve as Denver’s temporary head coach for the remainder of the season.
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