Tag: Beau Lowery

Broncos had an amazing injury rate turnaround under Beau Lowery

“We went from 32nd in the league in games missed by players on your roster to first in the league by fewest,” Sean Payton said.

When Sean Payton joined the Denver Broncos in 2023, he cleared out most of the team’s staff, including the old strength and performance staff.

One under-the-radar addition that Payton brought in was Beau Lowery, who was hired as the team’s vice president of player health and performance. Last spring, Denver general manager George Paton said he believed the addition of Lowery could prove to be a “game changer” for the Broncos.

Paton was right.

After a terrible year of injuries in 2022, Denver had a much better injury rate under the new staff in 2023. Was it a coincidence? Payton doesn’t think so.

“I think the one thing, and this is a credit to Beau and the people all involved in the weight room, athletic training room and people that are treating our players — we had a big goal of how do we reduce the injuries?” Payton said this spring. “Shoot, the first training camp I had with you guys, we had someone get hurt and it was like, ‘Man, here it goes again.’ I don’t know if it’s ever happened before, but we went from 32nd in the league in games missed by players on your roster to first in the league by fewest. So we went from 100 and some to 30 and some in one year.”

Payton believes that the additions of Lowery and strength and conditioning coach Dan Dalrymple directly correlated to that reduced number of injuries.

“I think he’s a real good communicator and he’s passionate about what he does,” Payton said of Dalrymple. “We’re so much further along relative to recovery and strength and conditioning now. We’re able to get all the — each practice, we’re able to see workloads for players.

“He’s very adaptable. I would say a strong quality is he’s a real good staff member. He can relate to the players and he’ll push them. There are a lot of leadership qualities that I saw when we were together at Miami of Ohio 20 years ago.”

The Broncos currently have two players on the season-ending IR list. Fans in Denver will hope that the team’s lower injury rate in 2023 was a sign of a new normal and not a one-off healthy season.

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Sean Payton has brought 22 ex-Saints to the Broncos (view them all)

Broncos coach Sean Payton has brought 22 former Saints to Denver. Here’s the full list of players, coaches and executives.

Just call them the Denver Saints.

Since taking over as the Denver Broncos’ head coach last year, Sean Payton has hired 22 former New Orleans Saints. Payton, who won a Super Bowl with the Saints in 2009, has brought in 12 coaches (including a strength coach), two executives and eight players (but two of those players joined New Orleans after Payton left).

The most recent addition is new defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard, who spent training camp and preseason with the Saints as a safety in 2013. Several other coaches also played under Payton in New Orleans, including special teams assistant Chris Banjo, offensive line coach Zach Strief and offensive quality control coach Logan Kilgore.

The most notable former Saints players who now play for the Broncos are kicker Wil Lutz and tight end Adam Trautman, who are both scheduled to become free agents if they are not re-signed before March 13.

Here’s a quick list of all 22 ex-Saints who have joined Payton’s Broncos.

Broncos coach Sean Payton discusses possible ways to help reduce injuries

Injuries can’t be completely eliminated in football, but the Broncos hope Beau Lowery’s arrival will help reduce injuries going forward.

The Denver Broncos placed 25 players on injured reserve last season, tied for the second-highest total in the NFL only behind the Tennessee Titans (32).

Those injuries can’t be attributed to just one primary factor, but new Broncos coach Sean Payton has taken steps this offseason in an effort to attempt to reduce the team’s injuries in 2023.

Payton will have their starters play in preseason this summer, and the team will tackle at practice. Whether or not that helps remains to be seen. Payton also brought in a new strength coach and conditioning coach this offseason and — perhaps most notably — the team also hired a vice president of player health and performance in Beau Lowery.

“I don’t know that there’s one bullet point,” Payton said at the NFL owners’ meetings last week when asked about the team’s injuries in 2022. “There is probably a series of things. Typically, when you have the season that went like it did last year, there’s a lot of people with dirt on their hands. It’s not just one thing. Beau Lowery — we hired him to come [to Denver]. I’ve worked with Beau and he’s outstanding. He’ll head up the training room, strength [and conditioning], sports science and all of that. He’s someone that is outstanding. It’s hard in our league. The training room is one of those rooms where it’s hard — the grass is always greener.

“For a period of five, six, seven years there, I’ve watched it flip with him and the trust of the players and getting treatment. So much so that this past offseason, Drew [Brees] had a shoulder procedure done separate from football. When the surgery was finished, he flew to Baton Rouge to have Beau and his group work on it. It’s something you earn with your players. He’s got an amazing way about him and he’s also very well respected. Where he did his fellowship and the doctors that he’s worked with — we’re lucky to have him. That’s just only one element of your question. I can’t look back and say, ‘Alright, this is why all these different things happen.’ I do know that we’re playing tackle football and you have to practice tackle football.”

Injuries will always happen in football. They can’t be completely eliminated, but the Broncos will hope that changes to the team’s training routine combined with the addition of Lowery might help reduce their number of injuries going forward.

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Beau Lowery could be a ‘game changer’ for the Broncos

After two years at LSU, Beau Lowery joins the Broncos as their new VP of player health and performance. It’s a “game changer” in Denver.

In addition to changing their strength and conditioning staff this offseason, the Denver Broncos also brought in Beau Lowery as their new vice president of player health and performance.

Lowery worked under Sean Payton with the New Orleans Saints from 2017-2021 before going to LSU, where he worked in sports medicine from 2021-2022.

“I think Beau is a game changer,” general manager George Paton said at the NFL combine last month. “Sean has been speaking about him since our first interview with Sean. Then you talk to the people at LSU, the people at the Saints, and he’s very progressive, data-oriented on the medical side.

“He’s going to bring it all together. He’ll be over the top. We have a lot of good people in our building. He’ll kind of bring everything together, strength and conditioning, in the training room, nutrition. He’s very humble, he has a great way about him. I think he’s going to be a game changer for us.”

Paton said Lowery will integrate strength and conditioning, nutrition and equipment to help players perform at their peak levels in Denver. Payton is confident he will be well-received by the team’s players, just like he was in New Orleans.

“I watched our transition when Beau came to New Orleans and how the players responded,” Payton said at the combine. “Not only just the veteran players, but some of the younger players. If you just Google searched the amount of players that sent him congratulations or sent comments, it gives you an idea how he was thought of. It’s kind of hard to have that.

“When you have it, like you recognize that it’s special, because he’s firsthand [when] dealing with the injuries and dealing with the setbacks. It can be a lonely place if you’re a player while you’re missing time. He’s very much respected. I mean, he fellowed under [Dr. James] Andrews. We lost him in New Orleans. We tried not to, but he wanted to live a little bit closer to Baton Rouge, and that’s why he went back up there. That’s a game changer for us, I think.”

After years of having a long list of injured players, the Broncos will hope that Lowery can help them stay healthier going forward.

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Broncos’ new player health VP comes with a strong recommendation from Drew Brees 

Broncos V.P. of player health and performance Beau Lowery has received glowing reviews from his former players, including Drew Brees.

The Denver Broncos placed 29 players on injured reserve last season, the second-highest total in the NFL that only trailed the Tennessee Titans (33). When new head coach Sean Payton arrived earlier this offseason, he took action in an effort to reduce the team’s injuries going forward.

In addition to bringing in Dan Dalrymple as the club’s new strength and conditioning coach, Payton has also hired Beau Lowery as the team’s new vice president of player health and performance.

Lowery has 25 years of experience in sports medicine, most recently working at LSU from 2021-2022. Before that, Lowery worked under Payton with the New Orleans Saints from 2017-2021.

“The health and wellness of the players is a top priority for our organization,” Broncos president/CEO Greg Penner said in a statement when Lowery was hired last week. “Sean has made an important addition to the Broncos in Beau Lowery, who will create an elite sports performance program leading our athletic training, strength and conditioning, nutrition and sports science staffs.

“We will continue to invest in all aspects of player care and performance to ensure we are providing the best possible resources for our team both on and off the field.”

Lowery has received glowing reviews from players he worked with in the past, notably including former quarterback Drew Brees.

“Beau Lowery added years onto my career,” Brees said in a statement. “His vision, leadership, character and process for sports performance and physical therapy are second-to-none. There is no better person you will find in this role to equip the team for health, recovery and success.”

Here’s a quick sampling of additional current and former players who reacted to the Lowery hire on Twitter.

Broncos announce 16 additions to coaching staff

Sean Payton has announced 16 members of his coaching staff so far.

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton officially announced 16 additions to his coaching staff on Saturday evening. Here are the team’s confirmed hires.

Name Position
Joe Lombardi   Offensive Coordinator
John Morton   Pass Game Coordinator
Keary Colbert   Wide Receivers
Declan Doyle   Tight Ends
Zach Strief   Offensive Line
Vance Joseph   Defensive Coordinator
Marcus Dixon   Defensive Line
Greg Manusky   Inside Linebackers
Christian Parker   Defensive Backs
Michael Wilhoite   Outside Linebackers

 

Mike Westhoff   Assistant Head Coach
Ben Kotwica   Special Teams Coordinator
Chris Banjo   Assistant Special Teams
Dan Dalrymple   Head Strength & Conditioning
Korey Jones   Assistant Strength & Conditioning
Paul Kelly   Assistant to Head Coach

In addition to those 16 coach hires, the Broncos also announced on Friday evening that they have hired Beau Lowery as their vice president of player health and performance.

“The health and wellness of the players is a top priority for our organization,” owner/CEO Greg Penner said in a statement Friday. “Sean has made an important addition to the Broncos in Beau Lowery, who will create an elite sports performance program leading our athletic training, strength and conditioning, nutrition and sports science staffs.

“We will continue to invest in all aspects of player care and performance to ensure we are providing the best possible resources for our team both on and off the field.”

Denver’s staff is getting closer to being finalized, but Payton still has a few more hires to make. The Broncos have yet to hire a running backs coach and some of the assistant positions are yet to be filled as well.

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