Tag: Vance Joseph

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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List of Broncos coaches since their last Super Bowl win

The Broncos are on their fifth coach since Gary Kubiak’s Super Bowl win, and their ninth coach since Mike Shanahan’s back-to-back titles.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had just three head coaches since 1969: Chuck Noll (’69-’91), Bill Cowher (’92-’06) and Mike Tomlin (’07-present). During that same period, the Denver Broncos have had 16 head coaches (including three interim coaches).

The Steelers are an anomaly — most NFL teams would love to have that kind of continuity at head coach, but finding the right man for the job is a difficult task at the highest level of football.

Denver found the perfect candidate in 2015 when they hired Gary Kubiak. He immediately won a Super Bowl in his first season with the team, but he stepped down just one season later for health reasons.

Since then, the Broncos have had five new coaches (including one interim coach). Sean Payton is the latest man to hold the job, and fans in Denver will hope he keeps the role longer than his predecessors.

Kubiak was the team’s fourth coach after Mike Shanahan won back-to-back Super Bowls. Payton will now aim to follow up in his footsteps and become the team’s third coach to win a title.

Rex Ryan ‘nearly’ got Broncos’ defensive coordinator job in 2023

Rex Ryan “nearly” got the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job in 2023, according to NFL Network.

In passing along a report about Rex Ryan’s 2024 job prospects in a tweet on Wednesday., NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport described him as a coach candidate who “was nearly the #Broncos DC last year.”

This is the first time we’ve seen a reporter — national or local — indicate that Ryan was close to getting Denver’s defensive coordinator job in 2023. The Broncos eventually hired Vance Joseph and Ryan later implied on ESPN that Denver did not meet his contract demands.

Joseph’s defense struggled early in the season and Ryan blasted the unit on ESPN multiple times before the Broncos turned things around. ESPN’s Pat McAfee even reported that Denver was considering an in-season DC switch to Ryan, but such a change never happened.

At the time of publication, the Broncos have not fired any of their coaches from the 2023 staff (at least not that we’re aware of), and it appears that Joseph is set to return as DC in 2024.

Ryan, meanwhile, is now a candidate for the Dallas Cowboys’ DC job.

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Eagles (and Vic Fangio) poach promising young coach from Broncos

Christian Parker left the Broncos to join Vic Fangio’s defensive staff with the Eagles. Vance Joseph remains Denver’s defensive coordinator.

The Denver Broncos will need a new defensive backs coach in 2024.

After interviewing for defensive coordinator openings with the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, defensive backs coach Christian Parker is leaving the Broncos, but not for a DC job.

Parker has left Denver to join Vic Fangio’s defensive staff with the Philadelphia Eagles, according to multiple reports. It’s essentially a lateral move — Parker will become a “passing game coordinator” in Philadelphia, a title the Broncos could have given him in 2024.

Denver could have blocked Parker’s move, but Denver head coach Sean Payton allowed the young coach to reunite with Fangio. Parker, 32, was hired by Fangio in 2021.

The Broncos have now lost two promising young defensive coaches in consecutive offseasons: Ejiro Evero in 2023 and Parker in 2024. After Evero left last year, Payton wanted to replace him with Fangio, but Fangio did not want to return to Denver.

The Broncos ultimately ended up hiring Vance Joseph as DC. Evero left, Parker left and Fangio wouldn’t return. Now Joseph remains.

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NFL coach roundup: No head coach jobs left for Bill Belichick

All of the NFL’s head coach openings have been filled and Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel remain available.

The NFL’s final two head coach openings have been filled.

The Seattle Seahawks are hiring Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and the Washington Commanders are hiring Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their head coaches.

That means there are no head coach jobs available for Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel. It’s a surprising development, but both coaches should land on their feet with time.

A dream scenario for a team like the Denver Broncos might be bringing in one of Belichick or Vrabel as a defensive coordinator, but that seems unlikely. The Broncos appear to be moving forward with Vance Joseph as their DC, and Belichick will presumably take a year hiatus from coaching, similar to what Sean Payton did in 2022.

Speaking of DC jobs, there’s good news on that front for Denver.

Broncos defensive backs coach Christian Parker interviewed for DC openings with the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, but the Pats (DeMarcus Covington) and Packers (Jeff Hafley) are expected to hire other candidates. That presumably means Parker won’t be leaving Denver.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Broncos are bringing in former New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, likely in a senior assistant role.

Elsewhere on the coaching front, ex-Denver coach Vic Fangio parted with the Miami Dolphins in a lateral move to become the Philadelphia Eagles’ DC. And Joe DeCamillis, who won Super Bowl 50 as a coordinator with the Broncos, has been hired by South Carolina as their new special teams coordinator.

The Broncos have made one addition (Carmichael) to the coaching staff, but no coaches have been fired so far, at least not that we’re aware of. It appears that Sean Payton will bring back most of his 2023 staff in 2024.

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Broncos 2023 season awards: MVP, ROY and more

Who was Denver’s MVP in 2023? Check out Broncos Wire’s team awards from the 2023 season.

Every year, the NFL hands out its annual awards before the Super Bowl for both offensive and defensive excellence.

At Broncos Wire, we’d also like to recognize several Denver Broncos players who would be considered for those awards on a team level in 2023.

Broncos in danger of losing DBs coach Christian Parker to Patriots

One year after losing Ejiro Evero, the Broncos are now in danger of losing Christian Parker, too.

When Sean Payton took over as the Denver Broncos’ new head coach last year, he kept just two members of the former coaching staff: defensive backs coach Christian Parker and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon.

Parker, 32, is considered a rising star on Denver’s staff and he might one day become a head coach. The next step for Parker on his path to a potential head coach job down the road would be a promotion to defensive coordinator.

The Broncos currently have Vance Joseph as their DC and at least one other team is interested in Parker as a DC candidate.

The New England Patriots are set to interview Parker for their DC opening after making Jerod Mayo their HC, according to multiple reports.

Parker joined Denver’s staff as a DBs coach in 2021 after serving as a defensive quality control coach with the Green Bay Packers from 2019-2020. Before that, Parker worked at four colleges from 2013-2018, including Notre Dame and Texas A&M before making a jump to the NFL.

Parker has stuck with the Broncos through three different HCs — Vic Fangio, Nathaniel Hackett and Payton — and three different DCs — Ed Donatell, Ejiro Evero and Joseph. A coach staying with a team through three different staffs is unusual and a reflection of how well Parker is thought of in Denver.

Last year, Joseph, 51, praised Parker and spoke about the assistant helping him create a scheme with elements carried over from Evero and Fangio.

“He’s sharp, man,” Joseph said of Parker on June 14. “He’s sharp. He’s a star. He is a great partner to work with. As a veteran coach, I’ve coordinated for about seven years now. My tape is out there, so I’m looking for ways to do different things.

“[I’ve been] speaking with Christian every day and bouncing ideas off him from what he’s done with Vic and guys in the past has been fun. [We’re] making changes and growing off what they did last year. He’s smart, he works his butt off and his players love playing for him. He’s a star.”

Losing Parker would be a huge loss not only for the Broncos’ secondary but for the defense as a whole. Unless Denver parts ways with Joseph, the Broncos do not have a DC promotion available for Parker. So one year after losing Evero, Denver is now in danger of losing Parker as well.

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Sean Payton is yet to make decisions on Broncos’ coaching staff

“We haven’t gotten into those discussions yet,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said when asked about the status of the team’s coaching staff.

During his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said the team would begin evaluating players (and coaches) next week.

With the evaluation still pending, Payton would not answer questions about the futures of certain players or the job security of select coaches.

“It’s only our second day since Sunday,” Payton said. “I know there will be a number of questions about staff, but we haven’t gotten into those discussions yet, relative to any personnel, player-wise or coach for that matter. That’s kind of where we are at, but we’ll have the chance to go through all of that pretty thoroughly.” 

Payton, general manager George Paton and team owner/CEO Greg Penner will meet next week before making any big decisions on the roster or staff. Consequently, Payton was unwilling to entertain questions about that topic during his end-of-season presser.

“Like I said, the tough part of this presser is always the questions are good questions, but the cart is ahead of the horse,” Payton said. “We’ve got the next two weeks. I’ll be spending time with George, Greg, our coordinators and all that stuff. We’ll look closely, just as we do with our own roster, at what we’re doing. Again, it’s too early today to even get into any discussions.”

The coach that faced the most scrutiny in 2023 was defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. Denver’s defense had an historically bad start to the year before bouncing back in the second half of the season. The future of Joseph — and every other coach on Payton’s staff — is apparently still undecided.

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15 takeaways from the Broncos’ first season under Sean Payton

Here are 15 quick takeaways from Sean Payton’s first season with the Broncos.

After starting 4-11 last season, the Denver Broncos fired first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett with two games remaining. Jerry Rosburg then took over on an interim basis and the club split their final two games to finish the year with a 5-12 record.

After firing Hackett, the Broncos’ new ownership group wanted to go big, so they agreed to trade first- and second-round draft picks to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a third-round pick and the rights to head coach Sean Payton last January.

While Denver did not qualify for the playoffs, the team did take a step forward in Year 1 under Payton, improving from 5-12 in 2022 to 8-9 in 2023. That marked the team’s best record since 2017. The next step is posting a winning record and qualifying for the postseason in 2024.

So, what did we learn from Payton’s first season in Denver? Here are 15 quick takeaways from the Broncos’ 2023 season.

Studs and duds from Denver Broncos’ 2023 season

The Denver Broncos had an wild season, full of ups and downs. We take a look back at the best and worst from 2023.

The Denver Broncos closed their 2023 season with a disappointing 27-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, finishing their season at 8-9.

This season began with buzz over head coach Sean Payton coming to Denver and his partnership with Russell Wilson. At the beginning of the season, there were far more problems than solutions. But then, in the middle of the year, the Broncos went on a remarkable six-game win streak, and there were serious playoff conversations happening for the first time since 2015. A couple of late-season losses ended those talks, but Denver still finished the year with their most wins since 2016.

We take a look at this season full of ups and downs with our final list of studs and duds from 2023.