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Struggling rookie head coach could lose job if team loses next game: report

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Denver Broncos rookie head coach Nathaniel Hackett has looked overmatched since Week 1.

In the Broncos’ first game of the year in Seattle, Hackett opted to waste the clock to try a 64-yard field goal, rather than get a 4th-and-5 with newly traded-for-and-signed Russell Wilson. The field goal was off the mark and Hackett admitted he botched that decision.

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Head coach Nathaniel Hackett of the Denver Broncos during the Raiders game at Allegiant Stadium on Oct. 2, 2022, in Las Vegas.
(Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)

Hackett was also booed by his own home fans the following weekend due to clock mismanagement.

With the Broncos struggling, ESPN reported Hackett is on the hot seat, and his future with the team “could be on the line” based on the result of this Sunday’s game against the fellow 2-5 Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Broncos are scoring just 14.3 points per game, which ranks dead last in the NFL. They’ve scored more than 20 just once.

Denver also ranks 23rd in yards per game (328.6), 20th in passing yards per game (219.1), and are tied with the least amount of passing touchdowns, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears.

Head coach Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson of the Broncos during the playing of the national anthem before the Houston Texans game at Empower Field At Mile High on Sept. 18, 2022, in Denver.
(Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

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All those numbers are quite astonishing as the team gave two firsts, two seconds, a fifth, quarterback Drew Lock, and tight end Noah Fant for Wilson to Seattle, which is 4-3 and in first place in a stacked NFC West. Denver then signed Wilson to a five-year extension worth $245 million, with $165 million of it guaranteed.

In late September, Hackett hired former Baltimore Ravens assistant head coach Jerry Rosburg as senior assistant to help him with in-game decisions – he had done similar work for John Harbaugh from 2008 to 2018, a run that included their Super Bowl XLVII championship.