Broncos hire ex-Pats assistant Davidson
The man charged with fixing the Denver Broncos’ biggest bugaboo is new offensive line coach Jeff Davidson. The one-time Patriots assistant was hired by new coach Vance Joseph yesterday, following former Chargers coach Mike McCoy to Denver. McCoy was Joseph’s first hire, replacing Rick Dennison as offensive coordinator.
Davidson, 49, worked on McCoy’s staff in San Diego last season, when secondyear running back Melvin
Gordon had a terrific comeback season with 997 yards and 10 touchdowns in just 11 games.
Davidson has 22 years of coaching experience, including 15 years with the offensive line. He was with the Patriots from 1997 to 2004, working as the tight ends and offensive line coach the final three years. He replaces Clancy Barone, one of several offensive assistants whose contracts have been terminated since Joseph replaced Gary Kubiak.
A former NFL offensive lineman, Davidson played in Denver from 1990-93 before finishing his career with a season in New Orleans. That’s where he started his coaching career the next season before stints with the Pats, Browns, Panthers, Vikings and Chargers.
Davidson’s teams have featured top-eight rushing attacks in six of his past eight seasons. He was in charge of Minnesota’s O-line from 2011-15 when the Vikings featured the league’s second-ranked rushing offense behind Adrian Peterson.
With Davidson working alongside McCoy in Carolina
Downing moves up
The Oakland Raiders have officially announced that quarterbacks coach
Todd Downing has been promoted to offensive coordinator and Jake Peetz will be the new quarterbacks coach.
News of the changes on the staff first emerged Tuesday and the Raiders announced yesterday the first changes to coach Jack
Del Rio’s staff since he took over in 2015. . . .
The Jacksonville Jaguars added three assistants to new coach Doug Marrone’s staff. The Jags retained Todd
Wash as defensive coordinator, hired Perry Fewell as secondary coach and Pat Flaherty as offensive line coach. They join Joe DeCamillis, who was hired Friday as special teams coordinator.
Tom Coughlin, the team’s new executive vice president of football operations, and Marrone still have one major hire to settle on — offensive coordinator.