Denver Broncos ownership will spare no expense with next head coach
Back in the Summer of 2022, the Denver Broncos were purchased by the Walton-Penner ownership group for an American pro sports record $4.65 billion. When they purchased the team, they also almost simultaneously signed off on the Russell Wilson mega-contract worth a total of $245 million, a decision you can’t help but wonder — are they regretting it at this point?
Things did not go the way anyone hoped or planned for the Denver Broncos and their new ownership group in 2022, to say the least. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to believe even the most pessimistic prognosis for the Broncos included what we’ve seen this season. Who had people making jokes about how many touchdowns Russell Wilson has thrown versus how many bathrooms he has in his house being on the 2022 NFL BINGO card?
At any rate, it all ended with Nathaniel Hackett getting fired before the end of his first season with the team. That’s only happened twice since the 1994 season, the last time being Urban Meyer in 2021 with the Jaguars. The Broncos might have stuck with Hackett through the end of this season, but the team was completely out of control on Christmas Day against the Los Angeles Rams both in terms of the on-field product and on the sideline.
It became abundantly clear at that point that Hackett had perhaps lost control of the operation. So what does all of this mean going forward? The current ownership group in Denver had nothing to do with the last head coaching search, but CEO Greg Penner will lead the next one. Furthermore, you can expect the Broncos’ ownership group — which has invested $4.65 billion in the team, another $100 million in stadium upgrades, $245 million in Russell Wilson, and plenty of other investments — to be extremely aggressive in this head coaching search.
What does that mean? It means no name should be off the table. There seems to be a common misconception out there that the Denver Broncos’ job is not an attractive one right now because of Russell Wilson. There may be some truth to that on a candidate-by-candidate basis, but there are also plenty of reasons to believe this Broncos job will be one of the most coveted in the 2023 offseason.
- Ownership group willing to be aggressive ($$$)
- Top-5 defense
- Strong pieces on both sides of the ball
- Aggressive, respected GM
- QB flexibility beyond 2023
Look, there’s no denying the fact that the Broncos’ job is going to come with Russell Wilson, at least for 2023. If Wilson has truly reached a new low with a new ceiling in his play, then the Broncos will stink again in 2023 and be in position for someone like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye in 2024.
Because there’s going to be a massive payday plus a virtually bulletproof year in 2023, how could you not love this job opportunity as a potential candidate? Just because 2023 is going to come with Russell Wilson doesn’t mean coaches are going to want to go to Houston instead. If anything, Russell Wilson’s history as a top-tier QB in the NFL and the fact that 2022 looks like a complete outlier might make prospective head coach candidates want the job more.
"“I’m a big believer that if you start with the right culture, (the right) people, and you have the resources and expectations, we can build a winning football team here again. I don’t think that takes a number of years. Our focus should be on turning this around so that we’re ready to go this coming season with the right pieces in place.”Denver Broncos CEO Greg Penner (via Broncos PR)"
The resources Penner is talking about? Money. He doesn’t need to expressly state it. The Broncos have the richest ownership in the NFL and last time I checked, there’s no salary cap on hiring a head coach. I think a lot of people right now are underrated the attractiveness of this Broncos job, and it starts with dollar signs.