Broncos Roundtable: Besides Russell Wilson, what was Denver's best offseason addition?

Just three short months ago, George Paton needed a new head coach, knew he had to upgrade the quarterback position and wanted to continue to upgrade the roster.

Less than 100 days later, Paton has accomplished all three tasks.

Not only are Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett in town, but Paton dropped tens of millions of dollars on the open market in free agency as he upgraded Denver’s roster.

Outside of Russ, who was by far the most impactful person brought into the organization this offseason, who was Paton’s best offseason addition?

The DNVR Broncos Crew breaks it down.

What was George Paton’s best addition in the offseason, besides Russell Wilson?

Zac: Nathaniel Hackett — The Broncos entire organization needed a drastic culture change. They got that with the 42-year-old coach buzzing with energy and positivity.

Hackett wants to not only make football fun again, but he wants to make coming to work fun for the coaches and players. No offense to Vic Fangio, but that was not high up on his to-do list as head coach. Hackett’s presence and culture change has already been felt in the building.

After years of bad and boring, the Broncos will finally be good—thanks in large part to acquiring Wilson—and fun.

Additionally, when it comes to the field, Hackett will let Russ cook, which will be vital in keeping up with the high-flying AFC West. Hackett won’t try to hold Wilson back. In fact, he’ll unleash him and get the most out of him.

While Hackett will never play a snap for the Broncos, his impact on the field and off will be more important than a free agent defensive lineman or edge rusher.

And Hackett will look great with Russ too. Don’t be surprised if Hackett flirts with breaking his former boss’ record of most wins in his first three years as a head coach. Matt LaFleur, with Hackett as his offensive coordinator, racked up an incredible 39 wins in his first three seasons with the Packers.

It wouldn’t be a complete shock if Hackett pushed for that record.

Mase: Hackett – Plenty of players can move the needle, but only Hackett was able to blow into the building with a hurricane of fresh air.

In terms of his personality and dynamic nature, he represented the opposite of Vic Fangio — which explains why the Broncos turned to him. In many regards, Hackett was a traditional hire, in the sense that teams often look for a successor who is the polar opposite of the previous coach. Hackett more than qualifies.

Even his first meeting was different. As safety Justin Simmons noted, Hackett opted to focus on his players first, greeting them as they walked into the team room and then opening the session with shoutouts to individual players for birthdays, marriages or other life events. Only after all that did he get to down to football.

Hackett’s people-first philosophy is exactly what the Broncos needed.

RK: D.J. Jones — I thought I was going to be the clever one who picked Nathaniel Hackett but it appears I have been beat to that punch… twice. Then, I was thinking maybe I would choose Ciara as the second-most important addition because she is important to Russell Wilson, but in the end I settled on Jones.

If you weren’t familiar with his work in San Francisco, you’re about to become very familiar with it in Denver. Per Pro Football Focus, Jones’ run-stop rate of 13.1 percent in 2021 was No. 1 in the league among interior defensive linemen who had at least 150 snaps against the run.

That’s right, the Broncos now have one of, if not the best run-stopping IDL in the entire NFL and that is going to make Ejiro Evero’s job a whole lot easier. And while his numbers aren’t quite as impressive rushing the passer, he’s going to demand attention on the inside, which will make the jobs of Bradley Chubb and Randy Gregory a while lot easier as well.

In the end, I’m certain Jones will be a fan favorite by the end of the season and his BBQ sauce will be selling like hot cakes.