Hackett once again hands offensive keys to veteran quarterback

Most of Nathaniel Hackett’s NFL seasons as a play-caller haven’t gone particularly well.

The ex-Broncos head coach has been a play-caller in six different NFL seasons. In one of those, he benefitted from a midseason promotion. Twice, he didn’t make it out of November as the play-caller, including last year, when he yielded responsibilities before the Week 10 game at Tennessee.

When he surrendered the duty last year, the Broncos ranked 20th in total offense, 23rd in yards per play and 30th in scoring offense.

Only once — in 2017 with the Jaguars — did Hackett have an offense that ranked in the top half of the league in scoring offense, total offense and yardage per play during the weeks for which he called plays.

To wit:

2013 – Buffalo

• Total offense rank: 19
• Scoring offense rank: 22
• Yardage per play rank: 29

2014 – Buffalo

• Total offense rank: 26
• Scoring offense rank: 18
• Yardage per play rank: 18

2016 – Jacksonville (Weeks 8-17)

• Total offense rank: 18
• Scoring offense rank: 22
• Yardage per play rank: 24

2017 – Jacksonville

• Total offense rank: 6
• Scoring offense rank: 5
• Yardage per play rank: 11

2018 – Jacksonville (Weeks 1-12)

• Total offense rank: 22
• Scoring offense rank: 28
• Yardage per play rank: 26

2022 – Denver (Weeks 1-9)

• Total offense rank: 20
• Scoring offense rank: 30
• Yardage per play rank: 23

Granted, his quarterbacking material was typically sub-par during those years. And in Hackett’s defense, the Broncos weren’t any better across the board after he yielded responsibilities; they were 20th in total offense, 24th in scoring offense and 25th in yards per play from Week 10 onward — and 28/29/28 in those statistics for the seven weeks before the club fired Hackett.

But the fact remains: Just once has Hackett called plays for an offense that was even at a mean level.

Which is why an item from the New York Post and Pro Football Talk was so interesting.

Hackett is officially the Jets’ play-caller. But his reunion with Rodgers — with whom he worked three seasons in Green Bay — will come with the four-time MVP receiving wide latitude to change calls at the line of scrimmage to adapt to defensive looks.

“It’s something that he takes a lot of pride in, and it’s something that we love to see because he takes advantage of certain areas on the field,” Hackett said, via the Post. “It definitely puts a little pressure on the wide receivers because they can’t ever just lock in on something that they’re going to be doing.

“If the quarterback sees an advantageous look for something, he’ll give you something very quick, and you have to have your eyes on him and eyes on the ball.”

That appears to be more than Hackett gave Russell Wilson last year. But Hackett and Rodgers have emotional capital built by friendship and success in Green Bay that didn’t appear to exist last year in Denver.

The Broncos will get a first-hand look at how well this works on Oct. 8, when the Jets visit Denver.

But based on the history of the Broncos’ erstwhile head coach, the Jets will benefit from a little more Rodgers and a little less of their actual putative play-caller guiding the attack.

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