The Denver Broncos have filled one of their defensive coaching vacancies after the departure of Jim Leonhard and the firing of Addison Lynch. Doug Belk will join Sean Payton’s staff as the team’s next defensive backs coach.
Denver Broncos tab Doug Belk as next defensive backs coach
For the last two seasons, Doug Belk has coached the secondary of the USC Trojans, but he’ll be making the jump to the NFL to coach the defensive backs for the Denver Broncos. Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports was first to report.
Belk, 38, was the defensive coordinator at Houston from 2020 to 2023 prior to coaching the USC secondary. His coaching career began at Valdosta State where he was a defensive assistant and special teams coach from 2011-2013, also coaching defensive backs in 2012 and 2013.
He then went on to coach at Alabama from 2014-2015 as a graduate assistant before becoming the cornerbacks coach at West Virginia from 2017-2018. His bigger leap as a coach came when he went to Houston.
In 2019, Belk was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach before getting a title bump to assistant head coach in 2020. From 2021-2023, he was the defensive coordinator at West Virginia.
It’s unclear whether or not his role will be the same as Jim Leonhard, or if he’ll be coaching both cornerbacks and safeties, but he’s the first coaching hire for Sean Payton in this offseason cycle after the team parted ways with Joe Lombardi, Keary Colbert, and Addison Lynch.
