Russell Wilson’s 2022 season has been an abject disaster. Here’s what his next coaches will need to do to fix it.
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After the Denver Broncos fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday, everyone started to speculate as to the name of Denver’s next head coach. it most likely won’t be interim head coach Jerry Rosburg, who Hackett brought in this season to help him with various time management issues. Most likely, it will be the most appealing quarterback whisperer, or a defensive-minded head coach who will then hire the most appealing and available quarterback whisperer.
Because the Broncos are not the problem. The problem is that Russell Wilson has played at an irredeemable level, but there’s no way for the team to move on from Wilson in a responsible salary cap sense before 2025.
Getting the best quarterback guru/offensive coordinator possible probably puts the Broncos in a situation where they have to make that guy the head coach. No offensive coordinator is going from where they are to Denver in a lateral move, and which quarterback coach would take that challenge without a major bump in status?. Wilson has proven over the years that he benefits from hard coaching, and whoever’s responsible for that hard coaching had better have enough skins on the wall to make his message resonate.
That’s a separate list, but whether it’s Sean Payton (unlikely for contractual and Vic Fangio reasons), Jim Harbaugh (interesting in a lot of ways), Frank Reich (also interesting in a lot of ways), or whomever else, that coach will be charged with what seems like the NFL’s most Mission: Impossible — saving Russell Wilson from himself.
Because, folks, the Wilson situation is exactly as bad as you think it is. Perhaps worse. It’s not just the on-field performance, which is bad enough. Wilson in on pace for his career-worst touchdown rate (2.9%), fourth-worst interception rate (2.1%), career-worst completion rate (60.1%), tied for career-worst yards per attempt (7.2), career-worst QBR (35.1), career-worst Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (5.39), and career-worst DVOA and DYAR.
That’s bad enough, but it’s the off-field stuff the new coach is REALLY going to have to fix.
There was KJ Hamler throwing his helmet to the turf in frustration after Wilson missed him in early October.
There was defensive lineman Mike Purcell screaming at Wilson on the sideline against the Carolina Panthers in late November.
There was Courtland Sutton going off on the field as Wilson threw his third interception of the day last Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.
Also in the Rams game, there was this highly unusual breach of offensive line protocol…
…which led to this sideline fracas.
It is difficult to think of another quarterback in the middle of his career, who was on kind of a Hall of Fame track, having this kind of regression so quickly and starkly. Regardless, the Broncos are stuck with Wilson for a good long time, and whoever replaces Hackett will just have to deal with it. There would be a lot of coaching credibility given to the coach who could “fix” Wilson, and if Wilson is unfixable… well, that’s what was inherited.
The Broncos have a top-tier defense, or at least they had one until that defense started to crumble under the weight of this appalling offense. They have a young running back in Javonte Williams with amazing potential when he’s healthy. The quarterback targets are beyond acceptable, albeit highly pissed off at this point. The offensive line is fine for the most part.
Denver’s new coach will take on a lot of good stuff. He will also take on one of the more dangerous (Danger-Russ?) quarterback situations in professional football history.
At least on the field, here’s how that coach (and his coaches) might be able to extricate Russell Wilson from that particular nightmare.
