The 2022 season has been a disaster for the Denver Broncos offensively. Despite having some really good weapons in place, the game plan of head coach Nathaniel Hackett and the performance of Russell Wilson has turned this into one of the least intimidating offenses in the NFL.
Denver is currently last in the league in points scored and 25th in yardage. Wilson is in the midst of the worst season of his career, playing well below replacement level and failing to elevate the team in the fashion that they had hoped when the Broncos acquired him from the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for five draft picks and three players.
Had Wilson been able to lead just a below-average offense averaging 18 points per game, not arguably the worst in the NFL, the Broncos would be 9-2. Great performances week in and week out by the defense are being wasted regularly and frustrations are beginning to show.
Last week, defensive tackle Mike Purcell could be seen yelling at Wilson on the sidelines. Purcell is a seven-year veteran and in his fourth season with the Broncos, a respected veteran and voice in the locker room. Having a public display in that fashion is never a good thing, but it is understandable why tensions would be running high and frustrations would boil over.
It sounds as if Purcell isn’t alone in having those feelings. According to NFL Rumors on Twitter, there are a lot of players beginning to question the leadership of Wilson and he is starting to lose the locker room.
That is usually the last straw for a head coach, but a quarterback losing the locker room could also be damning. As the leader of the team, if teammates are beginning to no longer believe in you, winning games could become even more difficult.
Hackett should be on one of the hottest coaching seats in the NFL given how disastrous this season has been. Wilson likely isn’t going anywhere unless the Broncos want to eat a historic amount of dead money. A coaching change is more likely, but the outlook certainly is bleak paying Russell Wilson nearly a quarter billion dollars to play at this level and Hackett being in over his head.
