Official: Rob Walton to buy Broncos

[broncos67]

8 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

I think you’re 100% right Ben; the big picture, long term, international branding will be a key for this group. I think they are also savvy enough to understand their bread is buttered locally, and plenty will be done to keel the Denver/Colorado/Rocky Mountain region influence and appeal. 

I think there will be an awful lot of corporatism, masses-pleasing, I don’t even know the right terminology to use, but you get my drift. And I’m also sure, frankly, whatever you want to call it, will be hideously insufferable for many of us at times, as long as they let the football people make the football decisions and that “brand building” (or again whatever you want to call it) business stuff doesn’t impact the football decisions, things should be fine. The best way to make money with a NFL team is to win games. 

There are definitely going to be some insufferable things they do which will probably be more visible locally than for someone like me, but I'm sure it will happen. One area where I think having Condoleeza Rice involved is good is that she's been around the game of football and can hopefully be a moderating influence from keeping the "non-football" people away from the football people. I don't get the sense the Walton's are going to meddle in the team. I think they'll spend most of their time handling a) new stadium development, b) international opportunities, c) new logo/re-branding.

[broncosfan_101]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:09 AM, lomaxgrUK said:

Out of interest, what is the reason for the distaste towards Walmart? I am sure it's warranted, I just don't know what it is. Asda (the equivalent here) doesn't get that much hate to my knowledge.

1. Their business plan from the start was, ‘import foreign junk and sell crazy high volume at crazy low margin,’ effectively killing large swaths of small businesses and American manufacturing. 
 

2. They’re the largest employer in America, and they pay poverty wages, causing millions of their workers to rely on food stamps. On top of that, more people use food stamps at Walmart than anywhere else in the US, which means not only are they using the government to subsidize their payroll, but they turn those subsidies into even more revenue when their workers buy their groceries there. 
 

Those are the two big ones. As someone who works in retail, they do a bunch of smaller annoying things, too. They chronically under-stock the door-crashers they advertise, which is some form of dishonesty. They order products from their suppliers with cheaper specs made to look like that company’s normal stuff, which causes headaches at other retailers when customers come to us for price-matching. Just basic unethical capitalist practices that they wade in as standard operating procedures. 

[The Helicopter]

14 hours ago, broncosfan_101 said:

1. Their business plan from the start was, ‘import foreign junk and sell crazy high volume at crazy low margin,’ effectively killing large swaths of small businesses and American manufacturing. 
 

2. They’re the largest employer in America, and they pay poverty wages, causing millions of their workers to rely on food stamps. On top of that, more people use food stamps at Walmart than anywhere else in the US, which means not only are they using the government to subsidize their payroll, but they turn those subsidies into even more revenue when their workers buy their groceries there. 
 

Those are the two big ones. As someone who works in retail, they do a bunch of smaller annoying things, too. They chronically under-stock the door-crashers they advertise, which is some form of dishonesty. They order products from their suppliers with cheaper specs made to look like that company’s normal stuff, which causes headaches at other retailers when customers come to us for price-matching. Just basic unethical capitalist practices that they wade in as standard operating procedures. 

Re Walmart and especially Amazon I'd like to see a search or preference filter to choose, "Made in USA" ...not a fan of supporting some of these foreign countries.

[jolly red giant]

Walmart is noted for being viciously anti-trade union.

[AKRNA]

So, lets look at the present Bronco's from Waltons eyes. He just spent $4.6 billion to buy them, has been a football fan longer than I have, and has stated ""Putting a winning team on the field is our No. 1 priority." 

“It’s a responsibility and privilege to serve as stewards of such an iconic franchise. We have tremendous respect for what Pat Bowlen has meant to the Broncos and look forward to building on this organization’s championship legacy.”

“We will strive to make the Denver Broncos the best team to cheer for, play for and work for in all of sports. Go Broncos!”

Now, three weeks in what has he got? Well, his defense is playing better than expected and could be championship quality and he's probably got a real steal in Evero. His ST's showed quite a spark of life last week with the addition of Rosburg. Great improvement from last year. He's got a $250 million QB as a hopefully major upgrade,

Then there's the offense/HC. So far he's seen nothing that would lead him to believe hackett is HC material. Along that line he hasn't seen anything to believe Hacketts much of an OC despite his resume. He's got to be concerned that we've invested a huge amount in what should be a racehorse at QB, then hitched him to a milkwagon so he'll last longer.

When he bought the team he figured, like many of us, if we could improve in two areas, ST's and Offense we'd be a legit contender. Who'd have thought our offense would be worse.

Anyway, if I'm him unless I see improvement of biblical proportions from my HC in two weeks he's gone. No way would I want him leading this team or franchise for another season or two, not when I've got a young kid in Klint with an incredible pedigree, under contract, and an established HC in Capers.

We'll see how it goes, but we've got an 11 day gap between the Colts and Chargers, plenty of time to make a swap.

 

[broncosfan07]

Hackett isn’t getting fired mid-season and sure as hell not for Capers to take over. Only way Hackett is getting fired is if the team finishes with a worse record than last season. And if Capers geriatric *** is the solution then this franchise is done being a serious contender, no offense AKRNA but we don’t need to be promoting someone who’s 72 and was a garbage HC in his prime. 

 

Now I do think if we hover around .500 there will be a change at OC for sure and Hackett will have to give up his play calling duties.

[paul-mac]

6 minutes ago, broncosfan07 said:

Hackett isn’t getting fired mid-season and sure as hell not for Capers to take over. Only way Hackett is getting fired is if the team finishes with a worse record than last season. And if Capers geriatric *** is the solution then this franchise is done being a serious contender, no offense AKRNA but we don’t need to be promoting someone who’s 72 and was a garbage HC in his prime. 

 

Now I do think if we hover around .500 there will be a change at OC for sure and Hackett will have to give up his play calling duties.

Small sample size but Hackett has nearly double the winning percentage of Fangio DESPITE a bunch of easily correctable mistakes and the locker room is right behind him.

 

Firing Hackett would be a legit insane move. 

[Broncofan]

2 hours ago, paul-mac said:

Small sample size but Hackett has nearly double the winning percentage of Fangio DESPITE a bunch of easily correctable mistakes and the locker room is right behind him.

 

Firing Hackett would be a legit insane move. 

Let's also recognize firing any coach in-season in their rookie year would be unprecedented.   The fact we're talking about year 1 as a real possibility does speak to how bad of a start it's been.   But yes, rookie HC's deserve time.

Having said that, if it's this bad and doesn't improve, now at least we can focus on Hackett-specific duties, and not just the whole coaching staff's level of preparedness / execution (ST's really stepped up, penalties on D way down).    But yes, he deserves more time....just hope it doesn't cost us games.   

Even the bye week would be literally unprecedented, and again, I think year 1 outster has only happened 2x before last season's firings with Culley/Urban Meyer (but Meyer was a truly disaster hire from the start).   But the fact it's not being dismissed as panic and it's basically the hottest coaching story in the league on how bad we've been there (co-share with McDaniels), well, that's something else.  

We should be mindful that Tony Siriani went through a similar start in Philly.   Now he looks golden.   However, there's one major difference - Siriani literally had no prior experience above 1 year as OC IIRC.   Hackett's been around a long time, had a stint as OC in JAX, and had several years working with Lafleur/A-Rod.    So pointing to Siriani isn't really apples to apples.  It's why there's more concern - Hackett has enough experience he should have been better than he's been.   Not just game management, preparation, but the OC side as well.   Still, patience is the play...as much as this start is the worst ever, history bears out that Paton is likely to be patient, and with good cause.

I wouldn't dismiss the idea of Klint Kubiak as the play-caller, though.  That has wings IMO if Hackett is this bad and doesn't improve.   Wouldn't likely be until the bye, though, but it's something that has a greater likelihood.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Broncofan

[broncos67]

8 hours ago, AKRNA said:

So, lets look at the present Bronco's from Waltons eyes. He just spent $4.6 billion to buy them, has been a football fan longer than I have, and has stated ""Putting a winning team on the field is our No. 1 priority." 

“It’s a responsibility and privilege to serve as stewards of such an iconic franchise. We have tremendous respect for what Pat Bowlen has meant to the Broncos and look forward to building on this organization’s championship legacy.”

“We will strive to make the Denver Broncos the best team to cheer for, play for and work for in all of sports. Go Broncos!”

Now, three weeks in what has he got? Well, his defense is playing better than expected and could be championship quality and he's probably got a real steal in Evero. His ST's showed quite a spark of life last week with the addition of Rosburg. Great improvement from last year. He's got a $250 million QB as a hopefully major upgrade,

Then there's the offense/HC. So far he's seen nothing that would lead him to believe hackett is HC material. Along that line he hasn't seen anything to believe Hacketts much of an OC despite his resume. He's got to be concerned that we've invested a huge amount in what should be a racehorse at QB, then hitched him to a milkwagon so he'll last longer.

When he bought the team he figured, like many of us, if we could improve in two areas, ST's and Offense we'd be a legit contender. Who'd have thought our offense would be worse.

Anyway, if I'm him unless I see improvement of biblical proportions from my HC in two weeks he's gone. No way would I want him leading this team or franchise for another season or two, not when I've got a young kid in Klint with an incredible pedigree, under contract, and an established HC in Capers.

We'll see how it goes, but we've got an 11 day gap between the Colts and Chargers, plenty of time to make a swap.

 

There is a zero percent chance Hackett gets fired in-season. There's simply no way. Not only would that destroy credibility from a FO/ownership position, but it's been 3 games and we are in first place in the division. I haven't been impressed with Hackett, but we have an incredibly well respected GM in George Paton and the hit to his credibility alone for such a move would be disastrous.

Now, depending on how the season goes and what the offense looks like by the end, I could see the argument, particularly because of the money they pumped into Russ, but I can't help but think there's some wishful thinking that Klint Kubiak will be great just because of his last name. I think he's a good young coach with a good pedigree, but if I'm playing Devil's Advocate, the same could be said about Hackett.

If the team plays like garbage offensively through the year, I do think there's a discussion about whether it's better to cut bait early (particularly if someone like Sean Payton were interested) but firing Hackett for Dom Capers, who hasn't been a HC since 2005, and another first time coordinator is basically just moving back to Fangio. Hard pass.

[paul-mac]

Even if Hackett was to be fired in season, Capers is not an appropriate interim replacement. It would have to be a Broncos grandee like Gary Kubiak or Mike Shanahan. I’m not going to waste any more time debating that though because the chances of him being fired before the end of this season are less than zero percent and to be honest I think it’s 90%+ chance that he is back in 2023 as well. 

[broncofan48]

The "easy" part of the schedule is the first half too.   Decent odds that Hackett has a winning record going into Week 13 against the Ravens (followed by Chiefs x2, Rams Cards and Chargers).   So even with nothing getting fixed, he's not getting fired for a .500 or better record going into the end season stretch 

[Broncofan]

36 minutes ago, paul-mac said:

Even if Hackett was to be fired in season, Capers is not an appropriate interim replacement. It would have to be a Broncos grandee like Gary Kubiak or Mike Shanahan. I’m not going to waste any more time debating that though because the chances of him being fired before the end of this season are less than zero percent and to be honest I think it’s 90%+ chance that he is back in 2023 as well. 

Since 2010, until last year when the new CBA came in, only 2 coaches had been fired after 1 year - Freddie Kitchens and Steve Wilks.  Wilks wasn't really deserved at all.  David Culley got the axe after 1 year with HOU, but that was truly undeserved.   Both guys, the team was terrible, they probably got the most out of each team.   Freddie Kitchens definitely earned his firing - until now, he had the worst start for a rookie coach, and it never improved.   Urban Meyer is obviously the other case that truly deserved it last year, seeing what JAX is doing now.

So yeah, I think your estimation is correct.   It's also fair to say the job Hackett's done so far mirrors Kitchens & Urban Meyer in process / decision failure (but yes, it's still too early, just concerning to say the least).   But the team's talented enough to overcome it to be 2-1...which likely will influence the FO.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Broncofan

[broncofan48]

6 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

Since 2010, until last year when the new CBA came in, only 2 coaches had been fired after 1 year - Freddie Kitchens and Steve Wilks.  Wilks wasn't really deserved at all.  David Culley got the axe after 1 year with HOU, but that was truly undeserved.   Both guys, the team was terrible, they probably got the most out of each team.    Urban Meyer is obviously the other case that truly deserved it last year, seeing what JAX is doing now.

So yeah, I think your estimation is correct.   It's also fair to say the job Hackett's done so far mirrors Kitches & Urban Meyer in process / decision failure.   But the team's talented enough to overcome it to be 2-1...which likely will influence the FO.

Meyer also had some off the field stuff, Hackett won't be putting the franchise in a bad light i don't think 

[Broncofan]

8 minutes ago, broncofan48 said:

Meyer also had some off the field stuff, Hackett won't be putting the franchise in a bad light i don't think 

The on-field stuff was WAY worse, though.  Dude was flat-out incompetent.  

The off-field stuff was great PR and an embarrassment to the Jags - but also because he was supposedly a no-nonsense disciplinarian.   To not board the flight home with his team after a TNF loss only to stay at his hometown bar he owned, and get caught doing *THAT* just showed how much of a fraud he was.    It made it a no-brainer for him to get fired and not wait to Black Monday, though.   In that regard, you're absolutely spot-on that without something similar, the most likely earliest ETA for Hackett even if he's not good, is closer to Black Monday 2023.   A change in play-calling to Kubiak, though....still think that's an intermediate option that's open if things don't improve on the play-calling side.  Think that's more likely after the bye, though, and obv not if there's clear improvement on Hackett's part.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Broncofan

[paul-mac]

54 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

Since 2010, until last year when the new CBA came in, only 2 coaches had been fired after 1 year - Freddie Kitchens and Steve Wilks.  Wilks wasn't really deserved at all.  David Culley got the axe after 1 year with HOU, but that was truly undeserved.   Both guys, the team was terrible, they probably got the most out of each team.   Freddie Kitchens definitely earned his firing - until now, he had the worst start for a rookie coach, and it never improved.   Urban Meyer is obviously the other case that truly deserved it last year, seeing what JAX is doing now.

So yeah, I think your estimation is correct.   It's also fair to say the job Hackett's done so far mirrors Kitchens & Urban Meyer in process / decision failure (but yes, it's still too early, just concerning to say the least).   But the team's talented enough to overcome it to be 2-1...which likely will influence the FO.

There are some others to be fair. Rob Chudzinski in Cleveland in 2013. The 49ers fired Chip Kelly and Jim Tomsula both after only one year in 2015 and 2016. Mike Mullarkey in Jacksonville 2012. Hue Jackson for the Raiders too and Jim Mora Jr in Seattle.