Russell Wilson’s ex-teammate gets extremely blunt on Broncos’ Nathaniel Hackett disaster - “It was pretty bad”

Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson's 2022 NFL season was one to forget for Denver Broncos fans. After almost a year of blowback, the storm appears to be largely over, at least until the start of the 2023 season.

While fans and pundits have managed to turn the page, the players affected by the deflating disaster have a unique perspective.

Speaking on the "Up and Adams" show, the running back who took perhaps the second-most flak that year recalled the experience. Here's how Melvin Gordon III put it:

"I think people will take it wrong because my experience with Denver was bad with the Hackett experience, it was pretty bad... It just was not good.

"I don't want people to think that Hack was a bad coach. Like I said before, it was a lot of great people on the staff. I don't think that they meshed well together and it showed, but I think he was a really good coach."

"But Hack can't coach every position... When we didn't understand something Hack would come in right away and boom, within like 2 seconds, he'd be able to make it clear for us, but... he's not a running backs coach.

"He has to just oversee and trust his guys. I think some guys on the staff are really good. Some guys were just homies... it didn't mesh."

Calling Nathaniel Hackett "Hack" might be a nickname in the interest of saving breath for Gordon, but in the wake of his experience with the coach, the nickname comes off as a bit ill-fitting. It also makes matters worse when the coach is suggested to have hired his friends above the most qualified guys.

Who was Melvin Gordon III's running backs coach at the Broncos under Nathaniel Hackett?

Melvin Gordon III with Nathaniel Hackett's Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos' running back coach last season was Tyrone Wheatley. Wheatley enjoyed a career in the NFL as a running back from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. After spending almost a decade away, he returned to coach running backs.

Wheatley started with the Buffalo Bills in 2013 and 2014. He then took a break from the league before returning to coach running backs for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Following another gap in his resume, he returned to the league to coach Melvin Gordon III and the rest of the running backs.

He doesn't have a job lined up for 2023, but in the chop-and-change world of the NFL, that could always change.