Nathaniel Hackett is the New York Jets’ new offensive coordinator
According to the New York Jets’ official Twitter account, Nathaniel Hackett has been hired as the team’s new offensive coordinator, replacing Mike LaFleur.
We've hired Nathaniel Hackett as our offensive coordinator.
📰 https://t.co/nP2ldF4SfL pic.twitter.com/ZhuJdZWBz6
— New York Jets (@nyjets) January 26, 2023
Hackett, 43, was hired as the Denver Broncos’ head coach ahead of the 2022 season. He only lasted 15 games before being fired in his first season with a 4-11 record.
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Prior to Denver, Hackett served as the Green Bay Packers’ offensive coordinator for three seasons from 2019 to 2021. Green Bay won 13 games in each of those three seasons. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named league MVP in the latter two years.
Naturally, Hackett’s hiring will only add more fuel to the fire of Rodgers potentially joining the Jets.
Across Hackett’s three years as the offensive coordinator, the Packers ranked fifth in scoring with 27.2 points per game. The season prior to his arrival, they ranked 14th (23.5), and in the season after, they dropped to 14th once again (21.8).
Hackett has a connection to Jets head coach Robert Saleh from their time together in Jacksonville. Before joining the Packers, Hackett was with the Jaguars from 2015 to 2018, overlapping with Saleh for the first two of those seasons while Saleh was Jacksonville’s linebackers coach.
In Jacksonville, Hackett was the quarterbacks coach over his first two years before being elevated to the offensive coordinator role from 2017 to 2018. The 2017 season was a highlight for Hackett, as he helped a Blake Bortles-led Jaguars offense rank fifth in scoring (26.1 points per game) and reach the AFC Championship Game.
The Jaguars fell to 31st in scoring with 15.3 points per game in Hackett’s second season. He would land in Green Bay after that.
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Hackett must prove to Jets fans that he can separate his work as an offensive coordinator from his work as the head coach in Denver last season. While his resume as a coordinator is mostly solid, he is coming off a nightmarish season with the Broncos. Denver went all-in by trading for Russell Wilson but ended up being a complete disaster offensively, ranking 32nd with 16.9 points per game. Few offenses in recent league history have fallen shorter of expectations.
Head coach and offensive coordinator are two very different roles, though. Now that Hackett only has to focus on coaching the offense rather than an entire football team, Jets fans are hoping he can lead this talented Jets offense to the heights he led Green Bay’s offense.
