ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Nathaniel Hackett began his first-ever Broncos practice where most, if not all, head coaches do.
In the way back.
Hackett watched over his offense beginning to install the playbook 30 yards away from the quarterbacks and receivers, getting a look at the entire field during Monday’s voluntary veteran minicamp practice.
Then, he got in the action, acting as a linebacker — and, in fact, shouting during the play that he was the linebacker — as Russell Wilson dropped back to pass.
But that wasn’t close enough for the first-time head coach.
Hackett then became part of the action as he lined up behind Wilson, acting as his running back.
“I always wanted to play running back when I was younger. Actually, I wanted to play all of the positions,” Hackett said, joking about taking a few snaps at running back during Monday’s practice. “No, you want to make everything game-like as much as possible, especially in the play-pass world… You want the quarterback always to feel somebody back there.”
“We got to give [the players] a look. So our job is to support them and make it as realistic as possible. I feel like I gave it a realistic look. Maybe. Maybe not,” Hackett continued to explain, while also continuing to throw humor in his responses.
In all seriousness, Hackett wants to be “all over the place” during practices, despite knowing his main priority is to the offense.
“Just want to be around everybody,” the head coach added. “Just want to be around it all.”
Not only have Denver’s two previous head coaches been on the defensive side of the ball, but like most coaches, they’ve been removed from the play itself.
Not Hackett. He’s doing things his way, even if that means adding running back to his title at times.
Much like his head coach, Wilson began his week much like a normal quarterback as he took snaps and threw darts to his wide receivers, including K.J. Hamler.
But Wilson’s week will include additional responsibilities that few quarterbacks are tasked with.
With the NFL Draft beginning on Thursday, April 25, Wilson has and will continue to help George Paton in the evaluation process of collegiate prospects.
“I talk to Russ daily and I kind of tell him our plan, what we’re looking for, and our needs,” Denver’s General Manager admitted in his pre-draft press conference. “Russ is a football junky. He’ll want to know what players we’re looking at, and I’ll tell him. He’ll watch them and give me his opinion. He’s a great resource. It’s good having him around.”
Wilson was a major help — if not the biggest help — to Paton in luring free agents to Denver back in March. A month later, he hopes his decade of playing in the NFL can help his general manager in landing the best players in the draft.
“I think going through the draft process and obviously playing 10 years in the league and playing a lot of football, you kind of know what it takes a little bit,” Wilson said, pointing to his experience as a player, something Paton does not have. “I think that George is always giving me ideas, ‘Hey what do you think about this guy? Hey, check this guy out. And everything else.’ It’s great.”
“I love football. I’m passionate about it. I’m passionate about the game,” Wilson stated. “I’m passionate about doing everything I can to help this team win. That’s the focus right now.”
When breaking down film of the players that Paton keys him in on, Wilson obviously looks at their talent and execution level on the field. But there’s one more aspect Russ looks for in the prospects.
“Does the guy make the team better? At the end of the day, I think that’s a big part of it,” Wilson said. “Obviously, for anybody to come on this team, such a tremendous team with so much talent — it’s so hard to make this team. Got to have guys that have that extra tenacity and the ability to understand the game. That’s a big part of it. George and the team, they tell me a lot about those guys and all that.”
Paton hopes that Wilson’s impact in the draft can be as impactful as it was in free agency, when Russ helped the team land Randy Gregory.
Hackett is also a sounding board for Paton and the personnel department as they prepare for the draft. While the head coach can’t completely focus on the draft, he’ll key in on certain players or positions that the Broncos are eyeing to give a further evaluation.
“I’m just working for those guys and trying to support them as much as possible,” Hackett added.
Being a head coach and a franchise quarterback of an NFL team is certainly more than enough work and responsibility.
But not for Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson.
They’re both loading their plate up even more in an attempt to turn the Denver Broncos back into a winning franchise.
