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Hackett: Talk about Russell Wilson losing locker room 'all gossip'
Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Nathaniel Hackett: Talk about Russell Wilson losing locker room 'all gossip'

First-year Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett has insisted quarterback Russell Wilson hasn't lost members of the locker room. 

"To me, it’s all gossip," Hackett said Wednesday about such chatter, as shared by Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "We have a fantastic locker room. I’ve never seen somebody work that hard and try to embrace a team like he has." 

Specifically, Hackett was reacting to a report that NFL Network's Tom Pelissero offered during Tuesday's edition of "The Insiders." 

"One of the things that I’ve consistently heard about it is Nathaniel Hackett, for everything that has gone wrong, and everything that people are saying about his job right now, he has not lost that locker room," Pelissero explained, according to Jaclyn Hendricks of the New York Post. "Russ has lost some people around that team. He has lost some people in that locker room." 

During this past Sunday's 23-10 loss to the Carolina Panthers that dropped the Broncos to 3-8, Denver defensive tackle Mike Purcell exchanged what seemed to be unpleasant words with Wilson. Per ESPN's Jeff Legwold, Purcell later said that incident was related to "frustration" felt by members of what's become a losing team. 

Interestingly, Pelissero's story was followed by a report that claimed "about half" of the Broncos team attended a midweek birthday party held for Wilson. Such math would indicate "about half" of the team wasn't in attendance for that gathering. 

Hackett added on Wednesday he's not considering making a change at the sport's most important position despite Denver's record and Wilson's poor play: 

Wilson has thrown eight touchdown passes and five interceptions in 10 games, and he has statistically been one of the league's worst quarterbacks this season. According to ESPN, the 34-year-old is 29th among all eligible signal-callers with an 82.3 passer rating and 30th with a 32.2 total QBR. 

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