Tag: Richard Smith

Colts’ assistant coach tracker: Who’s joining Gus Bradley’s staff

Tracking all of the Colts’ assistant coaching hires under new DC Gus Bradley.

The Indianapolis Colts already announced the hiring of new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who is replacing former coordinator Matt Eberflus after he became the new head coach of the Chicago Bears.

Bradley’s first task is to assemble an entirely new defensive coaching staff. Only one assistant coach remains from Eberflus’ old staff: assistant defensive line coach Matt Raich. It isn’t clear if he’ll be retained under the new regime.

Here’s a list of Bradley’s coaching staff. Some of these are unofficial and as we learned with Josh McDaniels, nothing is official until the Colts announce it as so.

We’ll keep updating this as hirings are announced or reported:

Report: Colts finalize hiring of Richard Smith

The Colts have reportedly finalized the hiring of former Raiders LBs coach Richard Smith.

The Indianapolis Colts have finalized the hiring for former Las Vegas Raiders linebackers coach Richard Smith, per Mike Chappell of Fox59.

After hiring Gus Bradley to be the new defensive coordinator, his first move was to bring along Ron Milus to work with the defensive backs. Then, it was reported that his next move would be to bring in Smith to work with the linebackers.

According to Chappell, that has now been finalized.

The roles of the assistant coaches on the defensive side of the ball won’t be truly known until the team announces it. That’s likely to come in one big announcement, but some of this news gets trickled out.

We can assume, though, that Smith is likely to be working with the linebackers given that has been his area of expertise throughout his extremely long career.

Smith has been the linebackers coach for the 49ers (1997-2002), Detroit Lions (2003-2004), Carolina Panthers (2009-2010), Denver Broncos (2011-2014), Los Angeles Chargers (2017-2020) and Raiders (2021).

Smith has also served as a defensive coordinator three times in his career with the Miami Dolphins (2005), Houston Texans (2006-2008) and Atlanta Falcons (2015-2016).

The most important hire will surround the defensive line coach. That’s the single most important aspect of the defense that needs the most help going into 2022.

But with the hirings of Milus and Smith, the Colts have an extremely experienced coaching staff under Bradley.

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Colts hire Ron Milus, looking to hire LB coach Richard Smith

The Colts have hired Ron Milus and are looking to hire LB coach Richard Smith.

The Indianapolis Colts have made their first hire on the defensive coaching staff under new coordinator Gus Bradley and are working on bringing another in quickly.

Though it had been reported that the Colts were expected to hire former Las Vegas Raiders defensive backs coach Ron Milius, multiple reports confirmed that has now become official. It isn’t yet clear the exact nature of his role but expect it to be with the secondary.

While Milus is now confirmed, the Colts are also “working on” hiring former Raiders linebackers coach Richard Smith likely for the same role, per Mike Chappell of Fox59.

Smith has been the linebackers coach under Bradley ever since the latter was hired in 2017 as the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers. Smith then followed Bradley to the Raiders for the 2021 season.

Smith has been coaching the NFL since 1988 when he started out holding various roles for the Houston Oilers. He began working with linebackers in 1997 with the San Francisco 49ers and has held that role ever since with his various stops along his journey.

Smith has been the linebackers coach for the 49ers (1997-2002), Detroit Lions (2003-2004), Carolina Panthers (2009-2010), Denver Broncos (2011-2014), Los Angeles Chargers (2017-2020) and Raiders (2021).

Smith has also served as a defensive coordinator three times in his career with the Miami Dolphins (2005), Houston Texans (2006-2008) and Atlanta Falcons (2015-2016).

The Colts still need to hire a defensive line coach, which will be the most important of them all, but it appears Bradley’s staff is beginning to come together.

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