New Broncos offensive coordinator Justin Outten and new special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes both have a tall task ahead to make Denver a contender again.
Though head coach Nathaniel Hackett will call the plays, Outten takes over an underachieving offense that has routinely struggled to average 20 points a game since winning the Super Bowl six years ago.
Meanwhile, Stukes coaches a special teams unit that’s been Denver’s Achilles’ heel during its playoff drought. In 2021, the Broncos ranked last in kickoff return average and kickoff return against while finishing 27th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings. Both coaches were officially introduced at a news conference Tuesday at Dove Valley.
Outten said his role in overseeing the Broncos’ offense will be “a collaborative effort” alongside Hackett, whom he worked with the past three years while Outten was the Packers’ tight ends coach and Hackett was Green Bay’s offensive coordinator. The duo also worked together at Syracuse University.
“It was that way in Green Bay, and we got the best out of it,” Outten said. “We connected last year (in play-calling) more than we ever have. We had the same ideas pop up on our (play-calling) sheets and we’d giggle about it because I was in his mind and he was in my mind.”
Outten is taking a wait-and-see approach at the quarterback position. Backup Drew Lock enters the final year of his rookie deal. Teddy Bridgewater, last season’s starter, is a free agent, and apountry is sitting on the edge of its collective seat awaiting news if Packers MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers will remain in Green Bay or demand to be traded elsewhere… i.e. a potential reunion in Denver with Hackett.
“As far as Drew, he’s got a powerful arm and he’s done a really good job as far as using his legs and being an athlete,” Outten said. “I want to see how he fits in this system a little bit more once he gets the playbook under him and then we’ll go from there.”
Meanwhile, Stukes wants the Broncos to have an “attack mentality” on special teams, where the Rams’ former assistant special teams coach hopes to change the culture. A lack of execution and few big plays were a consistent theme under the watch of Tom McMahon the past four seasons.
“We expect those guys to play at a high level — it’s not just, ‘Let’s field 11 guys (on special teams units)’,” Stukes said. “That’s not what we’re trying to do. We trying to raise the standard and build a culture around here where guys are excited to take part in special teams… The culture will change as the guys get familiar with the scheme. As guys start to start to see the success of the scheme, that’s when you get the true buy-in.”
