Tag: Jim Leonhard

Broncos DC Vance Joseph had a perfect response to head coach rumors

“Being mentioned is cool, but right now my mind’s not there,” Broncos DC Vance Joseph said of being named on head coach candidate lists.

The Denver Broncos‘ defense has been one of the best in the NFL this fall, which has led to rumblings that defensive coordinator Vance Joseph could be a top head coach candidate following the season.

Joseph, 52, previously served as Denver’s head coach 2017-2018. The Broncos went 11-21 during that time and Joseph was fired, but he was working with a roster full of deficiencies, including not having a franchise quarterback.

With such a strong defensive scheme, Joseph could perhaps have a better run as a head coach if he lands in the right situation.

After practice on Thursday, Joseph was asked for his thoughts about being mentioned among head coach candidates this season. Joseph had a perfect response.

“I don’t have a thought about it right now because, thank God this league has seasons, right?” Joseph said. “You know, we have an offseason, you have a draft season — right now it’s play and win season. So for me, my entire focus is this [upcoming] football game and winning games and coaching right now. That stuff takes care of itself down the road.

“There’s a season for that stuff, but right now, for me, it doesn’t even have a place for me. I’m so busy right now. My mind’s on this team, a young defense who’s playing good football, they keep improving each week, to get ahead of the adversity before it strikes, that’s my focus. But obviously, being mentioned is cool, but right now my mind’s not there.”

https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/1849550307161686274

Joseph’s focused on the task at hand. He’ll turn his attention to any potential head coach interviews after the season ends.

If the Broncos do end up losing Joseph, they have an excellent in-house candidate to replace him in defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard, a former college coach who had drawn interest from NFL teams as a DC candidate before landing in Denver this offseason.

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Wisconsin program legend becoming hot name in NFL coaching circles

Wisconsin program legend becoming hot name in NFL coaching circles

This story was updated to add new information.

Here is a sentence that should not surprise Wisconsin football fans: Badgers program legend Jim Leonhard is quietly becoming a hot name in NFL circles.

The current Denver Broncos defensive backs coach is beginning to be mentioned as a rising figure who could take a defensive coordinator job this hiring cycle.

Related: Where Paul Chryst, Jim Leonhard, Wisconsin football’s entire 2022 coaching staff is now

Leonhard currently leads a Broncos secondary that ranks No. 5 in the NFL in quarterback rating allowed, No. 2 in passing yards per attempt, No. 6 in passing yards allowed and No. 6 in interceptions through five weeks.

That group is led by all-world cornerback Patrick Surtain II, but isn’t top-down full of superstars. Other starters in the group are third-year CB Ja’Quan McMillian, second-year CB Riley Moss (via Iowa), and safeties P.J. Locke and Brandon Jones. Leonhard has the group playing like one of the best in the NFL.

This praise is not only coming from the outside. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini recently highlighted Leonhard as a key factor in Denver’s defensive success:

“Secondary coach Jim Leonhard, a former Broncos player and defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, has been getting rave reviews from his players and the staff,” Russini wrote. “So as we get closer to discussing the new batch of future NFL coordinators in the coming months, remember you read about Leonhard right here.”

Former Wisconsin quarterback and current Yahoo Sports and NFL Network analyst Nate Tice agrees with the sentiment. He called Leonhard ‘a major character’ in the NFL this season, both due to his coaching job in Denver and to the large collection of former Badger defenders dominating across the league.

Broncos beat reporter Andrew Mason also added to the conversation, calling Leonhard a ‘future NFL head coach.’

Finally, Broncos head coach Sean Payton heaped praise on Leonhard before the season even began. His sentiment has only been bolstered by strong results on the field.

 

Leonhard spent the 2023 season as an analyst on Bret Bielema’s staff at Illinois after leaving Wisconsin after Luke Fickell was hired in November 2022. He took the defensive backs coach job with the Broncos this offseason, and is already being mentioned as a possible candidate for promotion only five games into the young season.

Badgers fans are unlikely to be surprised by this news. Leonhard was one of the hotter names in the coaching industry up until the 2022 season. His defenses were among the best at the college level through his entire tenure as Badgers defensive coordinator, highlighted by a record-setting 2021 group.

The Wisconsin program legend chose an NFL path after getting passed over for the Badgers head coaching job in 2022. That decision appears to be paying dividends. His name will only be mentioned more and more on coaching hot boards as the weeks pass.

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

Wisconsin program legend among college football interception leaders since 1976

Wisconsin program legend among college football interception leaders since 1976

Former Wisconsin star safety Jim Leonhard is tied for the fourth most interceptions in college football since 1976.

The Tony, Wisconsin native is tied with Miami legend Ed Reed, Wake Forest’s Alphonso Smith, Florida State’s Terrell Buckley and Arizona’s Chuck Cecil with 21 interceptions since ’76.

Bowling Green’s Martin Bayless leads the list with 27 while Boston College’s Tony Thurman and Texas Tech’s Tracy Saul boast 26 and 25 picks, respectively.

Unlike a majority of these all-world athletes, Leonhard arrived in Madison as a walk-on in 2001. A year later, he was named first-team All-America and Wisconsin’s team MVP as a sophomore.

By the time he left campus, the 5-foot-8 safety boasted three first-team All-American selections, shattered the Big Ten record with 1,347 career punt return yards and finished his senior campaign as a finalist for the inaugural Lott IMPACT Trophy.

Leonhard followed his storied college career with 10 seasons in the NFL as a member of the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, the New York Jets, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns.

After retirement, he would go on to serve as Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach in 2016  before transitioning to defensive coordinator from 2017-2022. Under his guidance, UW landed in the nation’s top five for total defense and top 10 in scoring defense on four separate occasions.

Leonard was inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

Sean Payton says Jim Leonhard has a bright future as a coach in the NFL

“This guy has got a real good future as a coach in this league,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of new DBs coach Jim Leonhard.

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton tried to hire Jim Leonhard to his staff last year, but Leonhard took a break from coaching in 2023 while recovering from hip surgery.

After fully recovering, Leonhard joined Payton’s staff this spring as a defensive backs coach. Leonhard, 41, spent 10 years as a safety and special teams player in the NFL, including a summer with the New Orleans Saints in 2013.

“I had him briefly as a player and he reminds me that I cut him,” Payton said on June 12. “I think he [also] came here. He played for a long time. He’s extremely smart. Even last year in the process, he was going through a hip replacement surgery, so I was trying to hire him, but he was going to have trouble with that. He spent that year — last year — just working kind of as a consultant with Illinois. He was able to do that where it was going to be harder for him to commit.

“When this year came around and the opportunity presented itself — we are getting someone with [playing] experience and we’re getting someone with coaching experience as well. He’s been coaching at the college level now for quite a while and was a candidate to be the head coach at Wisconsin. I’ve kind of known him for a while and he’s one of those guys — not only myself, but I would say a number of people in the league have tracked and said, ‘This guy has got a real good future as a coach in this league.’”

Leonhard spent one season with the Broncos in 2012. Following his final season in 2014, Leonhard transitioned to coaching. He returned to Wisconsin, his alma mater, in 2016 and quickly worked his way up from defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator. Leonhard served as an interim head coach in 2022 before stepping down and taking a senior football analyst role at Illinois while rehabbing in 2023.

Now set to make his NFL coaching debut in 2024, Leonhard brings 10 years of experience as a player and seven years of coaching experience to Denver.

“He did a lot, and he will lean on him in all of those areas,” Payton said. “He really had a good career and was part of a lot of winning teams, too. The Jets — I remember competing against the Jets and [he] had two real good seasons there. He was part of those teams with Rex [Ryan]. He was in Baltimore and here. He was at a few stops, but when you play that long, he is doing something right.”

Broncos fans will get their first look at Leonhard coaching up the team’s defensive backs when training camp practices begin on Friday.

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Wisconsin’s 2021 defense trails only two Big Ten units in best of last decade

Wisconsin’s 2021 defense trails only two Big Ten units in best of last decade

The Wisconsin Badgers’ 2021 defense boasts the third-lowest defensive yards allowed per game total of any single-season college football defense since 2014, per ProFootballFocus.

The Badgers allowed only 239.7 yards per game in 2021, an impressive feat considering the shift towards more offensive-fueled systems in college football over the past decade.

Wisconsin registered a more proficient team defensive yardage mark than the 2023 Michigan Wolverines, 2015 Boston College Eagles, 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes and 2014 Clemson Tigers. The numbers go back to 2014, the first year of the College Football Playoff.

Paul Chryst led the 2021 Badgers to a 9-4 overall mark and a 6-3 conference record. Despite the winning record, the Badgers dropped contests to No. 19 Penn State, No. 112 Notre Dame and No. 14 Michigan in three of their first four contests. None of those losses, however, came due to poor play on the defensive side of the football.

The Badgers countered with seven unanswered victories, including a 27-7 triumph over the No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes and 30-13 win over the No. 25 Purdue Boilermakers.

Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard led the defensive group that season with future Super Bowl champion linebacker Leo Chenal as the team’s MVP. UW would go on to win the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl 20-13 over Arizona State.

Wisconsin’s 2021 defensive unit held its opponents to under 20 points in nine of its 13 bouts.

Starters on the unit included Keeanu Benton, Matt Henningsen, Isaiah Mullens, Jack Sanborn, Chenal, Nick Herbig, Noah Burks, Caesar Williams, Faion Hicks, Eric Burrell and Scott Nelson.

Benton, Henningsen, Sanborn, Chenal, Herbig, Hicks and Nelson all went on to play in the NFL in some capacity.

Jim Leonhard excited to make NFL coaching debut with Broncos

Sean Payton tried to hire Jim Leonhard last year, but he took a year off coaching due to hip surgery. Now recovered, Leonhard is on board.

After spending ten years as a safety and special teams player, Jim Leonhard transitioned from playing in the NFL to coaching at his alma mater, Wisconsin.

Leonhard returned to the Badgers in 2016 initially as a defensive backs coach before later becoming the defensive coordinator and eventually an interim head coach. He turned down DC jobs in the NFL to remain at the college level and then served as a senior football analyst at Illinois in 2023 while recovering from hip surgery.

After failing to land Leonhard on his staff last year, Broncos head coach Sean Payton made a pitch to Leonhard again in 2024. This time, the coach accepted, joining the team as their new defensive backs coach after six years at the college level.

“Definitely excited to be here,” Leonhard said on June 12. “Last year was a great time for me to kind of step away and reset a little bit. We had talked a year ago and decided against it, but it was hard to turn down twice.

“I loved my time here in Denver. It was a great experience as a player, and just knowing really from the top down, the commitment and the passion for the Broncos here in Denver. I’m excited to be back for this to be my first opportunity coaching in the NFL.”

Leonhard spent one season playing for the Broncos in 2012. He started one game on defense that season and played 151 snaps on special teams. Now back in Denver, Leonhard will be tasked with coaching up the Broncos’ defensive backs while undoubtedly helping with special teams as well.

The 41-year-old coach is the latest ex-player to join Payton’s staff, joining a list of peers that includes Chris Banjo, Zach Strief, Davis Webb, Keary Colbert and Logan Kilgore. Judging by his quick ascension, Leonhard seems poised to have a bright future in coaching.

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In the Big Ten and elsewhere, coaches have to be willing to show patience

Coaches have to be patient in how they coach on the field, but also in how they handle industry changes and openings.

One could say that Lincoln Riley is newly embracing patience at USC. What do we mean by that? Riley is talking about defense and toughness more, and he is talking less about offense and playing shootouts. Riley is carrying himself like a coach who, for the first time in his career, is comfortable winning games 17-10 instead of 52-49. Patience is real, and it matters for coaches in the Big Ten or anywhere else in the sport. Jim Leonhard was discussed here at Trojans Wire as a possible defensive coordinator candidate the past few years. He has had to exhibit patience as well, but in a notably different way.

Ben Kenney of Badgers Wire told us that Leonhard — who is now the secondary coach for the Denver Broncos, and who did not get any of the plum head coaching or coordinator jobs which came open in the most recent coaching carousel cycle — did not have the perfect job available for him once he was boxed out at Wisconsin in favor of Luke Fickell. Kenney told us that coaches shouldn’t just get high-profile jobs for the sake of doing so. The fit needs to be there, and Kenney didn’t think other open jobs provided that fit. Here’s more from that podcast we did with Ben:

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Former Wisconsin safety gets NFL minicamp invite with…Jim Leonhard’s new team

Former Wisconsin safety gets NFL minicamp invite with…Jim Leonhard’s defense

Former Wisconsin Badgers safety Reggie Pearson will attend the Denver Broncos rookie minicamp, according to a post on X.

Pearson has a connection to the Broncos: longtime Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard is the team’s new safeties and secondary coach.

Related: Top candidates to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft

The safety played for the Badgers from 2018-2020. His best season came as a starter in 2019 when he recorded 60 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles and 4 pass deflections.

Pearson spent the rest of his college career at Texas Tech (2021-2022) and Oklahoma (2023). He was productive for the Sooners this past season, totaling 30 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, 1 interception and 1 forced fumble.

The veteran safety was not selected in the 2024 NFL draft or signed as an undrafted free agent. He hopes this opportunity with Leonhard’s Broncos is his opportunity to make an NFL roster.

 

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

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Sean Payton sees a high ceiling for Broncos’ new DBs coach Jim Leonhard

“I think that he’s extremely bright … he’s got one of these high ceilings,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Jim Leonhard.

After losing Christian Parker to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Denver Broncos replaced him with new defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard.

Leonhard is a former NFL safety who had brief stops with the Broncos and with the New Orleans Saints during his playing days. He transitioned to coaching in 2016 and he has quickly risen up the coaching ranks.

“Jim was someone that I had spoken with last offseason,” Denver coach Sean Payton said at the NFL combine on Feb. 27. “He actually played for us briefly. I know he [also] played for Denver for a year. He had hip replacement surgery last year, so he was going to be in a position where he couldn’t commit to a full-time job. He helped out Illinois.

“I think that he’s extremely bright and he was as a player. He solved all the problems as a player. He was in Buffalo, with the Jets, Baltimore and Denver. He played for 10 years and I think he’s got one of these high ceilings that we see with some young coaches. I say young, but it’s kind of all relative. I think a lot of him, and we spent a lot of time on that process.”

Leonhard, 41, served as a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2017-2021 before being promoted to interim head coach in 2022. Before joining the Broncos this offseason, he previously interviewed for two defensive coordinator openings in the NFL.

Leonhard might one day be a DC candidate in Denver. For now, though, he’s an overqualified DBs coach set to replace Parker in 2024.

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Broncos might have a future defensive coordinator in Jim Leonhard

Either with the Broncos or another team, Jim Leonhard seems to be on track to eventually get a defensive coordinator job in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos made two additions to their coaching staff on Wednesday, officially hiring Pete Carmichael as senior offensive assistant and Jim Leonhard as defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach.

Leonhard, 41, is a huge hire for a positional coach.

The former NFL safety spent 2016-2022 coaching at his alma mater, Wisconsin. After starting out as a defensive backs coach, he was quickly promoted to defensive coordinator before later becoming the team’s interim head coach.

Leonhard spent last fall as a senior football analyst at Illinois. Before that, he interviewed for two defensive coordinator openings in the NFL (as our friend Joey Richards of “Let’s Talk Broncos” pointed out on Twitter/X).

Leonhard interviewed for — and was offered — the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator job in 2021, but he turned them down, opting to remain with the Badgers. Two years later, Leonhard interviewed for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator opening, but they hired Sean Desai instead.

The fact that Leonhard has already interviewed for DC jobs in the NFL suggests that he will likely land a DC role at some point in the future, either with the Broncos or another team.

We know that current DC Vance Joseph would like to become a head coach again. Perhaps if Denver’s defense has a standout year in 2024, Joseph might be considered for head coach openings next January. If Joseph does leave the Broncos at some point (by his own choice or otherwise), Leonhard will be an obvious candidate to replace him.

Leonhard is overqualified for a defensive backs coach position (despite “pass game coordinator” being in the name). He will likely get a promotion before long, the only question is if that will happen in Denver or elsewhere.

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