Getty Image / RJ Sangosti
The Denver Broncos finally fired Nathaniel Hackett this week after an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
However, it seems the move may not have fixed very much for them.
The team made Jerry Rosburg the interim head coach after Hackett’s firing and it seems he has already managed to make some of the Broncos’ players unhappy with one of his decisions.
Rosburg realized that the team had one padded practice left to use this season and decided to use it in his first week on the job despite the Broncos having nothing left to play for this year.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, some players on the team were not thrilled with the decision.
The Broncos had a padded practice this week. Some players who would prefer to get through two remaining meaningless weeks healthy weren't happy about it. https://t.co/VUiVd5SGrW
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 31, 2022
Rosburg explained to reporters on Thursday that he opted for a padded practice because, under the labor deal, the team had one more padded practice available this year. But the availability of a padded practice doesn’t mean the padded practice has to be used.
We’ve caught wind that some players — players who would prefer to emerge from final days of a lost season as healthy as possible — weren’t happy about it.
Running a padded practice in your first week as interim head coach for a team that has been disappointing throughout the season and only needs to get through 2 more games for the season to be over is probably not the best way to try and win over the locker room.
The Broncos don’t really have any reason to be running padded practice at this point in the year and many of their players are probably just ready for this disastrous season to be over.
Rosburg shouldn’t be expecting much out of this Denver Broncos team right now.