The best NFL teams often lose members of their coaching staff during the offseason. It’s a good problem to have.
For the Denver Broncos, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is the most obvious and most likely candidate to draw head coach interest this offseason. Someday in the future, quarterbacks coach Davis Webb might also get looks as a potential head coach candidate.
Sean Payton’s coaching tree includes Dan Campbell, Doug Marrone and Dennis Allen. Are there any coaches on his current staff who could become head coaches in the future?
“It’s an interesting league,” Payton said in June. “We went through — you hear the term that it is a copycat league. There is success with let’s say a young Sean McVay, then there is a couple of years where I am getting calls from GMs asking about not only candidates on my staff, but other candidates. It was always, ‘We are interested in an offensive play-caller.’ So I would say, ‘So you are not interested in the next Bill Belichick?’ I think this past year, we saw a number of defensive coaches. We’ve seen special teams coaches with John Harbaugh, who I worked with in Philly. We’ve seen offensive line coaches. There is a little cycle to that.
“Ultimately, you are looking for and projecting who can lead. Sometimes, I think it is a little like the quarterback position. You may have a talented prospect that maybe ends up in the wrong place. In three years, he is back in the coordinator’s role and who knows if he ended up in another place. I’ve shared that story with you and the late [former Saints owner] Mr. [Tom] Benson coming to me those early years and saying, ‘Hey, we have all of these coaches getting interviews for head jobs. I said, ‘Mr. B, we need to worry if no one is interviewing them.’ I love seeing what Dan Campbell is doing, I love seeing Dennis Allen now, Doug Marrone and a number of these guys that I have worked with. I want that for them. It’s hard to predict though.”
Payton wasn’t willing to give any predictions earlier this year, but Joseph seems likely to get interviews this offseason. Joseph, of course, previously served as Denver’s head coach from 2017-2018. We’ll see if other teams come calling in the offseason.
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