Tag: coaching staff

Full list of 22 ex-Saints now with Sean Payton’s Broncos

Broncos coach Sean Payton has brought 14 coaches/staff members and eight players who used to be Saints with him to Denver.

Just call them the Denver Saints.

Since becoming the Broncos’ head coach in 2023, Sean Payton has brought many former Saints with him to Denver. Not only players, but many coaches as well. There are currently 14 coaches and execs on Payton’s staff who previously spent time in New Orleans, and eight players.

Here’s the full list.

Ex-Saints now Broncos coaches/staff

  1. Mike Westhoff (assistant head coach)
  2. Pete Carmichael (senior offensive assistant)
  3. Joe Vitt (senior defensive assistant)
  4. Joe Lombardi (offensive coordinator)
  5. John Morton (pass game coordinator)
  6. Michael Wilhoite (OLBs coach)
  7. Jim Leonhard (DBs coach)
  8. Declan Doyle (tight ends coach)
  9. Chris Banjo (assistant special teams coach)
  10. Logan Kilgore (offensive quality control coach)
  11. Zach Strief (offensive line coach)
  12. Dan Dalrymple (head strength and conditioning coach)
  13. Cody Rager (V.P. of player personnel)
  14. Beau Lowery (V.P. of player health and performance)

Ex-Saints now Broncos players

  1. WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey
  2. WR A.T. Perry (practice squad)
  3. TE Adam Trautman
  4. TE Lucas Krull
  5. FB Michael Burton
  6. LB Kwon Alexander (practice squad)
  7. K Wil Lutz
  8. DL Jordan Jackson

All of these former Saints are set to return to the Caesars Superdome when the Broncos travel to New Orleans to face the Saints on Thursday Night Football in Week 7. They should feel right at home.

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Peter Schrager dubs Broncos DC Vance Joseph his Coach of the Week

NFL analyst Peter Schrager heaped a ton of praise on Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph following Week 5.

The Denver Broncos have a winning record thus far in the 2024 season, in many aspects due to their stifling defense. And NFL Network analyst Peter Schrager has taken notice of the elite group.

“I give out a coach of the week award every week. It could be a head coach, a special teams person, it could be an assistant coach at any level, and I am so excited to give Vance Joseph the award for coach of the week this week,” Schrager said on Good Morning Football this week.

“The Denver Broncos defense is the best in the league, and they were rocking those Orange Crush uniforms and they absolutely dominated the Raiders.”

Schrager went on to praise the Broncos’ defense for their success across the 2024 season.

“Looking at this unit this season, they are allowing 14 points per game this season. That’s good for second in the league,” Schrager said. “They have 19 sacks, 75 quarterback pressures and 41 quarterback hits, all good for top three in the league entering Monday Night Football.”

https://twitter.com/gmfb/status/1843294986894540812?s=46

Later on in his segment, Schrager lauded the humility of the defensive coordinator.

“Vance, personally, the story is so cool. He was the head coach of the Broncos, got unceremoniously fired, worked elsewhere, got the job with Sean Payton to be defensive coordinator, has no ego, says ‘Sure, I’ll be defensive coordinator.’ They give up 70 in a game to the Dolphins last season, and everybody says ‘Get rid of Vance Joseph!’

“They have since been one of the most dominant units in the league [since then]. Vance Joseph, love the focus, love the way this team is performing and we love the fact that your story tells you that you do not shut the door on a guy who’s done it his entire career.”

Well-deserved praise for Joseph and Denver’s defense.

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Wisconsin upcoming opponent fires offensive coordinator after 1-3 start

Some big news before next weekend

Purdue has fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after a 1-3 start to the 2024 season, the latest loss a 28-10 defeat at the hands of Nebraska.

Head coach Ryan Walters makes this significant move ahead of the Boilermakers’ upcoming matchup against the struggling Wisconsin Badgers.

Harrell joined the program with Walters in 2023. He previously held offensive coordinator positions at North Texas (2016-2018), USC (2019-2021) and West Virginia (2022).

Purdue averaged just 21.8 points per game during the first four games of the young season. It began with a 49-0 win over Indiana State, then followed with point totals of 7, 21 and 10 respectively in its next three losses. The team is 1-3 through four weeks and ranked No. 89 overall in ESPN SP+. Its offense is down at No. 84 in the nation.

Walters has his own issues to fix on the defensive side of the football — Purdue has allowed point totals of 66, 38 and 28 over the last three weeks as well. This change will likely be one of many to come as the Boilermakers continue to struggle in the post-Jeff Brohm era.

Wisconsin will host Purdue at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT on Saturday. It is a must-win for the Badgers if they have any chance at bowl eligibility. Purdue’s coaching change should shake things up entering the contest. For the Boilermakers, the on-field product can’t get much worse.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion.

Why Sam Darnold’s success has Wade Phillips feeling like a proud dad

Wade Phillips dropped in to remind everyone that Sam Darnold’s resurgence has been guided by offensive coordinator Wes Phillips.

Sam Darnold appears to have revitalized his career, and nobody’s happier to see it happen than San Antonio Brahmas coach Wade Phillips.

Darnold, 27, has completed 72% of his passes for 476 yards with four touchdowns against two interceptions through two games in Minnesota, helping the Vikings begin the season with a 2-0 record.

Phillips took to Twitter/X on Tuesday to remind football fans who has been coaching Darnold up in Minnesota.

“For those who don’t know — Wes Phillips is Sam Darnold’s offensive coordinator,” Phillips tweeted on Tuesday.

Wes, of course, is Wade’s son. The younger Phillips has been the Vikings’ offensive coordinator since 2022.

Proud dad moment.

Wade coached in the NFL from 1976-2019, including two stints with the Denver Broncos. After serving as defensive coordinator from 1989-1992, Philips was Denver’s head coach from 1993-1994. He later returned to the Broncos as defensive coordinator in 2015 and helped the club win Super Bowl 50.

Phillips now coaches the Brahmas in the UFL and his son, Wes, is enjoying success in Minnesota, his fourth stop in the NFL.

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Ex-Broncos assistant coach has Saints’ offense flying

Former Broncos QBs coach Klint Kubiak is now the offensive coordinator of the highest-scoring offense in the NFL.

It’s tough to watch a player leave your team and find success elsewhere. The same can happen with coaches.

At a time when the Denver Broncos‘ offense is struggling to move the ball and score points, the New Orleans Saints are flying. Through two weeks, the Saints have scored 91 points, an average of 45.5 points a game. The Broncos, meanwhile have scored 26 points through two weeks, an average of 13 points per game.

The New Orleans attack is being led by offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the son of former Broncos coach Gary Kubiak. The younger Kubiak has “completely renovated” the Saints’ offense. Also on staff in New Orleans are ex-Denver offensive coaches Rick Dennison and Clancy Barone.

Kubiak, 37, was a passing game coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 after holding that title plus quarterback coach duties with the Broncos in 2022. He was an offensive assistant in Denver from 2016-2018 before a three-year run with the Minnesota Vikings.

Klint was initially hired to join Gary’s staff with the Broncos in 2016, and he later followed his dad to Minnesota. There was no nepotism involved when Denver re-hired Klint in 2022 as part of Nathaniel Hackett’s staff.

Sean Payton arrived in 2023 and cleared out nearly all of Hackett’s staff, including Kubiak. Payton joined the Broncos with a reputation as an offensive genius, but he hasn’t been able to kickstart Denver’s offense thus far. Kubiak, meanwhile, is off to a great start with the Saints.

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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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Wisconsin adds longtime NFL coach to coaching staff entering 2024 season

Wisconsin adds longtime NFL coach to coaching staff entering 2024 season

Wisconsin has hired longtime NFL coach Jack Del Rio as a senior advisor to head coach Luke Fickell before the 2024 season, as first reported by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.

Del Rio has been spotted at the Badgers training camp over the last few weeks. This news ends speculation about whether he was hired to an official role with the program.

Related: Ranking the biggest storylines entering Wisconsin’s Week 1 contest vs. Western Michigan

The longtime NFL coach was most recently the Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator from 2020-23. His coaching experience spans back to 1997 and includes stints as a head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-11) and the then-Oakland Raiders (2015-17).

He has decades of experience in the sport and should bring a valuable perspective to Fickell’s staff.

This is Del Rio’s first job at the college level — though he has experience as a linebackers coach, defensive coordinator and head coach. This stint with the Badgers could serve as a valuable springboard into another NFL job for Del Rio after he was fired by the Commanders in November.

This news comes after Fickell first reportedly wanted to bring in former NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel to help on the Badgers staff. Vrabel, Fickell’s college teammate, went on to take a consultant job with the Cleveland Browns earlier this offseason.

Del Rio still fits that mold as an experienced NFL coach with a valuable perspective that the Badgers currently lack on their staff.

Fickell, Del Rio and the Badgers begin their 2024 season on Friday night against Western Michigan. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, 9 p.m. ET.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. 

Blake Lampman talks new position on the staff with Michigan State basketball

Blake Lampman talks about his new position on the staff with MSU

Michigan State basketball head coach Tom Izzo added Oakland University legend Blake Lampman to his coaching staff in a support role. Bringing in the Haslett native is a big deal for both the Spartans and the Golden Grizzlies legend.

Courtesy of WILX’s Owen Oszust, Lampman spoke about Michigan State and the opportunity he has to work for a coach like Izzo.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.

NFL team tried to sign Broncos coach as a QB during 2023 season

An NFL team approached Broncos assistant coach Davis Webb about unretiring and playing quarterback last season.

During an interview with Kay Adams on the “Up and Adams Show” earlier this week, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton dropped a fascinating nugget about quarterbacks coach Davis Webb.

“Davis Webb is doing a great job,” Payton told Adams. “He just — it’s unusual that you get a quarterbacks coach that literally just finished playing. And then even last season, gets an email from a team about possibly playing still. And he’s coaching that room. So you do have a little bit of a caddie there and a real smart up-and-coming coach who’s working with those guys.”

Payton convinced Webb to step away from playing as a backup quarterback in the NFL to join his coaching staff last year. Apparently, one team last season wanted Webb to make a comeback as a player. Payton did not mention the specific team by name.

Before joining the Broncos as a coach, Davis spent time as a player with the New York Giants (two stints), New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.

This certainly isn’t the first time an NFL team has asked a coach to switch to quarterback. During the 2020 season, the Broncos wanted coaches Rob Calabrese and Justin Rascati to suit up as quarterbacks after all of Denver’s QBs were deemed ineligible to play due to COVID-19 protocol.

The Broncos weren’t able to pull it off because NFL rules prevent coaches from playing for their team. Instead, Denver turned to practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton to fill in at QB (and it didn’t go well).

Webb couldn’t play for the Broncos in a pinch, either. He would have to step down from his coaching role and unretire and sign with the team as a player, but the league probably would not allow that to happen on short notice just like it wasn’t allowed with Calabrese and Rascati four years ago.

It’s a moot point, anyway, because Webb seems content to continue coaching. By all accounts, he has transitioned well to the new role.

“I think he does a great job,” quarterback Zach Wilson said earlier this month. “I really love working with him. You wouldn’t think he’s only been in the league coaching for a couple years. He does a phenomenal job [and] is just fun to be around.”

Webb, 29, seems to have a bright future as a coach in the NFL.

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Ex-NFL coach Jason Garrett visits Broncos training camp

Former NFL coach Jason Garrett visited Broncos training camp on Thursday.

The Denver Broncos had a special guest at Thursday’s training camp, a former quarterback. Not John Elway. Not Peyton Manning.

Okay, okay, you already read the headline. It was Jason Garrett.

Garrett played quarterback in the NFL from 1989-2004, but many football fans today know him from his time as a coach. Garrett started his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach with the Dallas Cowboys in 2005 and later worked his way up to offensive coordinator and then head coach.

Dallas did not renew Garrett’s contract when it expired in 2020 and he went on to serve as an offensive coordinator with the New York Giants from 2020-2021. So is he now returning to league on Denver’s staff? Probably not.

Garrett was a quarterback with the Giants from 2000-’03, overlapping with then-New York offensive coordinator Sean Payton (2000-’02). Payton went on to coach on Dallas’ staff from 2003-’05 and Garrett joined the Cowboys in 2007, one year after Payton became head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

Garrett now works for NBC’s Sunday Night Football and while the Broncos do not have any initially scheduled SNF games this year, Thursday was likely an opportunity for Garrett to reconnect with an old friend and do some prep on Denver’s roster ahead of the 2024 season.

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