The Denver Broncos kicked off the coaching search on Wednesday, interviewing former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano. Second on John Elway’s interview list is Rams quarterback coach Zac Taylor.
At 35 years old, Taylor would be an unconventional hire, but the up-and-coming coach currently works under a 32-year old Sean McVay, so if Taylor impressed enough in his interview, Elway could elect to go with the young, offensive-minded coach.
Under the tutelage of Taylor and McVay, Rams quarterback Jared Goff completed a career-best 64.9 percent of his passes and tossed 32 touchdowns, also a career high. With the Broncos likely looking to find and develop a young quarterback in the immediate future, it could make sense to hire someone that has made a career working with them.
The argument for Taylor:
Although Taylor has only ever been a quarterback coach, other than a brief stint as an interim offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, he seems destined to rise through the ranks quickly.
Hiring Taylor may be too big of a gamble for a franchise that is looking to find immediate stability, but this roll of the dice could pay off; especially considering Denver has been lacking on offense for the better part of four years. With Gary Kubiak around as a mentor, Taylor could provide the spark that the Broncos need on offense.
Since ranking in the top three in points scored in three consecutive seasons (2012-14), the highest Denver’s offense has been ranked in the last four seasons was No. 19 in 2015. Without Peyton Manning or even Brock Osweiler, the Broncos have been stagnant, and Vance Joseph certainly did not help the cause.
The other argument for Taylor is the position currently comes with a lot of baggage. The Broncos have a public ownership dispute and a multitude of roster issues to deal with — not to mention a general manager that once fired a head coach after winning four consecutive division titles and is not exactly viewed as easy to work for. Denver is obviously still an extremely proud franchise, but in actuality, it is in the lower tier of desirable open positions.
The Broncos can’t afford to hire just anybody, but the reality is some of the more popular experienced coaches could elect to go find a more stable situation. If this happens, Elway very well could decide to make a run at the young gun.
The argument against Taylor:
It’s a classic high-risk/high-reward scenario. Taylor could be the next Sean McVay and have immediate success. He could also be Josh McDaniels 2.0 and be in over his head.
In an ideal world, the Broncos could bring Taylor over as an offensive coordinator if the front office really loved him, but Elway hired someone with little to no background as a coordinator or head coach the last time around the block. After two years of misery, it seems unlikely that the keys would now be handed to another person with almost no experience behind the wheel.
He has already publicly stated that the ideal candidate would have proven success and is an experienced ‘leader of men’, so it seems that Taylor does have a legitimate chance of landing the gig. The more likely reasoning for the interview is Elway wants to pick the brain of one of the minds behind one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL.