By Jordan Long
The Denver Broncos will report to training camp in late July. Of course, the Broncos have a new Head Coach, Sean Payton. On his staff is a former Broncos’ Head Coach, Vance Joseph, who is the defensive coordinator.
Joseph coached the Denver Broncos from 2017 to 2018. It was very forgettable as Denver went 11-21, a winning percentage of .344. After the 2018 season, Denver fired Joseph. It seemed like his days in the Mile High City were over.
Teams passed on him to be a head coach. He showed he wasn’t ready to take that next step. The Arizona Cardinals hired him as defensive coordinator and he was on Kliff Kingsbury’s staff from 2019 to 2022. This was a chance for him to get back into coaching as a coordinator.
Once the Broncos hired Payton, he wanted an experienced defensive coordinator. The choice was Joseph. It is very rare for a coordinator to go back to a city that fired him as head coach.
The past is the past. This is a different team than when Joseph was the head coach. He also understands the way to be successful in this league is to win. He wants to be part of that solution. According to ESPN, Joseph said, “For me … it’s a league of winning; if you don’t win, there’s going to be change. It was never personal for me. I came here [as the head coach] and I worked my butt off and it didn’t work. I’m back now and that’s my focus, [to] play great defense for Sean and win some games.”
Joseph is taking over a Broncos defense that played well last season. They were 7th in total yards giving up 320 per game. When it came to passing, teams found it difficult to throw the football on this defense. The Broncos permitted 210.2 yards through the air, 12th in the NFL. The rush defense was great too. Denver didn’t allow opponents to run the football at will. Teams averaged 109.8 yards per game on the ground, 10th in the NFL.
The one area Joseph must improve on is scoring. Denver couldn’t find ways to stop teams from scoring. Denver allowed 21.1 points per game, 14th in the NFL.
Joseph knows he has talent on this team. This includes safeties Kareem Jackson and Justin Simmons, linebackers Randy Gregory and Josey Jewell, cornerback Patrick Surtain, defensive tackle D.J. Jones, and defensive end Frank Clark. It will be up to Joseph to keep this defense playing well. If they don’t, it could be a long year for Joseph. For now, Joseph looks forward to the challenge.
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