[staylor26]

The majority of NFL teams hire a general manager, who is then tasked with hiring a head coach. This was how things were handled when John Elway previously oversaw team operations for the Broncos.

When Paton was first hired, he didn't get to hire his head coach at first. Vic Fangio entered the third year of his contract, and it wasn't until the 2021 season ended that Paton fired him.
While the Broncos could have let Paton hire his own head coach following the 2020 season, there may be a couple of reasons why that didn't happen.

Bear in mind that Vance Joseph had been fired after completing two seasons of his four-year coaching contract, and the Broncos had just finished paying off what they owed Joseph (though there were offsets because Joseph became the Arizona Cardinals' defensive coordinator).

That, plus the fact the 2020 NFL season had no in-person attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact the Broncos ownership situation remained unresolved, likely meant that the Broncos would stick with Fangio for at least one more season.

Thus, Hackett counts as Paton's first coaching hire. And while the results haven't been good overall in the first half of the 2022 season, that by itself doesn't tell the tale of Paton when it comes to head coaching hires.

https://www.si.com/nfl/broncos/.amp/...ocess-analysis