Greg Penner must show Broncos Country the buck stops with him

The Denver Broncos are at a crossroads, and it’s time for Greg Penner to put his foot down and show fans the buck stops with him.

The CEO of the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group, Penner’s done a nice job so far in his two seasons on the job.

He fired Nathaniel Hackett after just 15 games in 2022, alerting Broncos Country he knew the hire was disastrous, and one that wasn’t made under his watch. The Broncos were still in the hands of the Pat Bowlen Trust when Hackett was brought on board.

Penner also hasn’t been afraid to spend money at every turn. Whether that be $100 million in stadium upgrades, new turf for a meaningless game or a wildly expensive free agent class. The richest owners in the NFL aren’t scared of tossing around the almighty dollar, and that’s a good thing.

But right now, with the franchise in a bit of disarray, it’s time for Penner to reestablish he’s in control.

That can start by speaking publicly now that another season has concluded, and with some tough questions to answer. First and foremost, what happened with the Russell Wilson contract debacle? Is it true GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton threatened to bench Wilson with nine games to go if he didn’t change his injury guarantee?

If it is, that’s a bad look for the Broncos. It’s one thing to ask Wilson to restructure his deal, it’s another to threaten to take away his ability to play on Sundays if he doesn’t comply. Remember, Wilson says this happened after Denver ended its embarrassing 16-game losing streak to the Chiefs.

What peculiar and, frankly terrible timing that was.

Did this decision make it to Penner’s desk and did he sign off on it? If not, what policies are in place to hold Payton and Paton accountable on these type of things? It’s been nothing but bad press for the Broncos, with ESPN analyst Ryan Clark going off and Dan Orlovsky calling the organization “classless.”

This team was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2022, but none of that was Penner’s fault. He didn’t hire Hackett and he didn’t trade for Wilson.

But that was year one, and this is now the conclusion of year two, with a full offseason under Penner’s belt. If these kinds of shenanigans are going to prevent players from wanting to sign with the Broncos, Penner needs to get out in front of it.

He needs to make a strong statement that the way the team conducted business in the Wilson case wasn’t appropriate. Frankly, he should probably just fire Paton, finding a scapegoat for everything that’s gone wrong the last two weeks (and two years).

And then after that, Penner needs to get Payton in check. He must make it clear that his coach can’t pop off in national interviews that bring the franchise all kinds of headaches. The Broncos weren’t liked around the league this entire season, all because Payton couldn’t help himself when talking about Hackett.

Penner’s the boss and Payton’s the No. 2, but the CEO needs to find someone who works directly under him to run the day-to-day show. Whether that be a new GM or President of Football Operations, it should be an executive Payton reports directly to.

The name Peyton Manning comes to mind, if he’d take the job. Penner should do everything in his power to bring No. 18 back to the Broncos. Not only does Manning have a brilliant football mind, he’d help clean up the PR mess the former regime has created.

It’s time for Penner to make some bold moves. It’s time to show Broncos Country he can make the tough personnel decisions and not just be a big-spender.

The offseason is now about 36 hours old. Not enough has happened yet, and Penner should start putting some big things in motion.