When Sean Payton took over as the Denver Broncos’ new head coach last year, he kept just two coaches from Nathaniel Hackett’s staff: defensive backs coach Christian Parker and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon.
Both coaches are now gone.
Parker left the team earlier this week to join the Philadelphia Eagles, reuniting with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The Broncos could have blocked the lateral move but Payton allowed Parker to go.
Now Dixon is leaving Denver to join the Minnesota Vikings in a lateral move, ESPN’s Dan Graziano first reported on Friday. Dixon will become Minnesota’s new defensive line coach, working under defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
The Broncos will have to find two new coaches for defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s defensive staff, and there are now no coaches remaining from Hackett’s old staff. Parker and Dixon are bright young coaches, but it seems that Payton did not want to block them from opportunities they wanted to pursue.
Denver has not fired any coaches this spring, but they did bring in former New Orleans Saints Pete Carmichael as a senior assistant. At least two more coaches will be added in the coming weeks to replace Parker and Dixon.
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