Broncos Pick 'Em: Who should be Denver's next head coach?

Nathaniel Hackett’s tenure in Denver lasted less than a year. In fact, Hackett become only one of a handful of coaches in NFL history to not make it through his first season as a head coach.

After the Broncos’ 51-14 defeat to the Rams on Christmas, Greg Penner decided he had seen enough from Hackett.

Now, for the first time, Penner and the Broncos’ new ownership will lead the coaching search. Should Penner follow the guidance of George Paton and hire a name close to him—such as Dan Quinn—or should the billionaire open up his pocketbook to make a major splash?

The DNVR Crew gives their take on who should be Denver’s next head coach.

All odds below are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Who should be the Broncos’ next head coach?

Zac: Jim Harbaugh — All Harbaugh does is “win win win no matter what,” to quote DJ Khaled.

The current University of Michigan coach not only brought his alma mater out of irrelevancy and into the College Football Playoffs two years in a row, he has dominated at the NFL level too.

Harbaugh took over a Michigan program that went 5-7 in 2014. His first year in Ann Arbor, he doubled their win total. He went to a bowl game in seven of his eight years and was ranked every single season. This year, along with last year, he had his team competing for a chance to make the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

Before arriving at Michigan, Harbaugh won in the NFL. In three of his four seasons in San Francisco, Harbaugh went to the NFC Championship game, including a trip to the Super Bowl.

During those four years, Harbaugh racked up a 49-22-1 record. To put that in perspective, Harbaugh’s 68.8 win percentage during his time in the NFL would be the second-best in Broncos history—better than Mike Shanahan (61.6) and Gary Kubiak (65.6)—only falling short of John Fox’s 71.9 win percentage. Fox, however, had Peyton Manning under center for all but one of his years as head coach. Harbaugh didn’t.

That’s another reason why Harbaugh is the perfect man for this job. He helped resurrect Alex Smith’s career before developing Colin Kaepernick into a borderline-Pro Bowl quarterback. Turning Russell Wilson’s career around would be priority No. 1 for Harbaugh.

Additionally, Harbaugh’s hard-nosed demeanor is what this team, and Wilson, needs moving forward.

The downside of Harbaugh, and why his stint in San Francisco only lasted four years, is he can grind on people, making his stints shorter than others. But with Wilson already 34 years old, the Broncos’ shouldn’t be looking for a coach for the next two decades. They should be looking for a coach who can come in and win right away. That guy is Jim Harbaugh.

Hank: Sean Payton — I’ll be honest: I think Jim Harbaugh is the top choice, but Zac outlined the argument for him perfectly, so I’ll move to my No. 2 option.

Like Harbaugh, there’s no guarantee Sean Payton will be an option for the Broncos. In fact, it would be an upset if he’s willing to accept the gig in Denver, given the rumors of him having interest in just about every other team with a potential opening.

But the best path toward fixing Russell Wilson is finding a way to get Sean Payton to Denver.

Under Payton, the New Orleans Saints finished in the top 10 of the NFL in scoring 12 times in 15 tries. They finished in the top five in 10 of those seasons. They only finished outside of the top 10 in yards in the final two of his 15 seasons. They finished first in yards six times and second three more.

Yes, Payton had future-hall-of-fame quarterback Drew Brees for nearly his entire tenure in New Orleans, but those numbers are absurd. And, for what it’s worth, Payton’s experience with a sub-6-foot quarterback could come in handy.

The Broncos would probably have to give up a first-round pick to gain the rights to Payton, but that’s a small price for an offensive genius with a Super Bowl under his belt.

RK: Sean Payton — Both of the above make great cases, but as I go back and forth on this, today I am leaning towards Payton for a couple reasons.

Reason 1: The Broncos hired Nathaniel Hackett to come in and be the mind that fixes the offensive woes that have plagued them for nearly a decade. As they learned, Hackett’s inexperience as a head coach got in his way so much that his offensive knowlege never even got put on display. Payton brings the best of both worlds—not only is he an offensive genius, he is also a Super-Bowl-winning head coach.

Reason 2: When Payton got to New Orleans in early 2006, he sat in a room with an undersixed free agent quarterback, drawing plays on a board to show him how they were going to suceed with him at QB. It worked and a guy by the name of Drew Brees decided to sign with the Saints. What followed was one of the most prolific stretches of offensive football in NFL history. Brees threw for 68,010 yards and 491 touchdowns in 15 seasons under Payton, that’s an average of 4,534 yards and 33 touchdowns per season.

Brees is obviously a different player than Russell Wilson, but there may not be another man on earth who is more knowledgeable on the topic of winning with an undersized quarterback. It’s no wonder the Arizona Cardinals are also hot on the Payton trail.

Oh, and to anyone who says there’s no chance he’s to Denver—money talks.

Picks Picks Picks

Russell Wilson passing touchdowns over/under 1.5

Zac: Under.

RK: Over.

Hank: Over.

Russell Wilson passing yards over/under 220.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Over.

Russell Wilson interceptions over/under 0.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Patrick Mahomes passing touchdowns over/under 2.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Patrick Mahomes passing yards over/under 284.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Patrick Mahomes interceptions over/under 0.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Under.

Hank: Over.

Latavius Murray rushing yards over/under 44.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Under.

Hank: Over.

Isiah Pacheco rushing yards over/under 65.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Travis Kelce receiving yards over/under 71.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Broncos total points over/under 15.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Over.

Chiefs total points over/under 28.5

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Under.

Broncos-Chiefs total points over/under 45

Zac: Over.

RK: Over.

Hank: Over.

Broncos @ Chiefs (-12.5)

Zac: Chiefs.

RK: Broncos.

Hank: Broncos.

Rams @ Chargers (-6.5)

Zac: Chargers.

RK: Chargers.

Hank: Rams.

49ers (-10) @ Raiders

Zac: Raiders.

RK: Niners.

Hank: Raiders.

Leaderboard

Last week

Zac: 6-7

Hank: 5-8

RK: 8-4

Overall

Zac: 83-82-1

RK: 77-87-1

Hank: 66-99-1