As carousel speeds up, staffers may get looks
After a week away, Broncos coaches are back in the office for the start of the full postseason breakdown.
Head coach Sean Payton told reporters earlier this month that this week will be spent doing a deep evaluation of the roster, the coaching staff and the 2023 season.
Around the NFL, the head coaching market is heating up. New England’s already hired Jerod Mayo, and six other openings are mostly into the realm of second interviews and winnowing down candidate lists.
So far, Payton’s made no changes to his coaching staff. No Broncos assistants have been asked to interview for a head coaching opening and none have been hired away.
The next few weeks will mostly sort out how much continuity the staff will have going into 2024. Payton said last summer that it’s normally only bad if other teams aren’t looking at your coaches.
“My early years in New Orleans, we had success and the late (owner Tom Benson) came to me and said, ‘ Coach, we have a lot of people interviewing our coaches,’” Payton said in June. “I said, ‘ Mr. B, that’s not a problem. The problem is when no one wants to visit with our coaches.’
“We have a lot of talent on the staff, and it takes that to be successful.”
Payton spoke highly of many of his assistant coaches throughout the season, including offensive line coach Zach Strief (Strief himself raves about assistant Austin King), special teams assistant Chris Banjo and defensive line coach Marcus Dixon, and said he thought there were multiple future head coaches on the staff.
For the moment, here’s a look at a few Broncos staffers who are getting opportunities currently and a coach Payton has an extensive history with who is on the market.
DEFENSIVE BACKS COACH CHRISTIAN PARKER >>
Parker, 32, interviewed for the Patriots’ defensive coordinator job, a source confirmed last week to The Post, and is one of three reported candidates. Parker’s got a reputation as a stand- out communicator and has shown the ability to lead a room that’s featured veteran players like safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson over the past three seasons. Not only that but he’s worked for a trio of respected defensive minds in Vic Fangio, Ejiro Evero and Vance Joseph since arriving in Denver. The coordinator interview came as no surprise and, if he doesn’t get the post in New England, he could well be in line for more interviews as the other six open head coaching jobs get filled.
QUARTERBACKS COACH DAVIS WEBB >>
Webb’s been recruited for coaching jobs since before he actually made the jump from playing. He turned down a gig in Buffalo for one more playing year in 2022 before jumping at the chance to be Payton’s quarterbacks coach this year. He’s on the fast track toward being a coordinator and his name coming up over the next weeks for interviews would not be a surprise. In the meantime, he landed a good gig serving as the West team’s offensive coordinator in the upcoming East West Shrine Bowl in Texas.
LOGAN KILGORE AND ZACH GROSSI >>
The pair of offensive quality control coaches may not end up getting fulltime assistant gigs this offseason, but they did land nice postseason assignments as the tight ends coaches for the National and American teams, respectively, at next month’s Senior Bowl in Alabama. Kilgore had history with Payton as a former undrafted free agent and is entering his second season with the Broncos. Grossi was hired by Nathaniel Hackett in 2022 and then retained by Payton. He’s entering his third season with the Broncos.
Much of the postseason tenor from Payton, general manager George Paton and CEO Greg Penner centered around how much continuity can benefit the Broncos going forward.
Joseph survived the massive early- season struggle on his side of the ball and then engineered a mid-season turnaround. Payton earlier this month called the rebound, “A big reason behind our spark, if you will, of winning five games in a row.”
Payton, though, was more vocally displeased with his offense’s performance in the immediate aftermath of Week 18.
“I would say clearly it’s heavy- duty work in progress,” he said.
Which perhaps makes a development last week more interesting.
New Orleans fired offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, who served on Payton’s staff every season he was there. Carmichael served as Payton’s quarterbacks coach for three years and had been the coordinator since 2009.
The Broncos have a big set of coaches involved in their offense already — coordinator Joe Lombardi, passing game coordinator John Morton, Webb and Payton, for starters — but if any attrition happens on that side of the ball, Carmichael would be a natural replacement.
Even if the current group stays in place, there’s not a rule that prevents Payton from considering adding.
SURTAIN, MIMS RECOGNIZED >>
Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II and kick returner Marvin Mims Jr. were each named ALL-AFC performers by the Pro Football Writers Association.
The pair are each Pro Bowl starters, while Surtain was named a first-team AllPro by the NFL Players Association and Mims a second-teamer by the Associated Press.