Following two seasons of watching the offense struggle mightily in Denver, Broncos general manager John Elway continued to place his focus on the other side of the ball; hiring Vance Joseph to replace Gary Kubiak as coach, and making it clear that he still believes it is the defense that wins championships.
As he usually does however, Elway pulled something out of his bag of tricks that could prove to go a long way in improving this offense very soon.
Elway was able to grab former San Diego Chargers head coach and former Broncos assistant coach Mike McCoy to come back as offensive coordinator. He then signed former Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave to coach the Broncos’ quarterbacks.
That move could prove to be crucial for the Broncos future.
This isn’t a shot at Gary Kubiak, but quite often during his time with both the Broncos and the Texans, his offenses have been a little underwhelming. In his eight seasons with Houston, and his two seasons in Denver, Kubiak offenses have averaged just 22 points per game. Kubiak quarterbacks have averaged just 21 passing touchdowns and 16 interceptions per season.
As such, it’s possible that Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch’s growth may have been stunted by the offense they found themselves in. Enter McCoy and Musgrave.
Mike McCoy is an offensive mind that has worked with quarterback at all skill levels. He has spent the past four seasons working with quarterback Philip Rivers in San Diego, and he had Peyton Manning for one amazing season in Denver. Prior to those two great quarterbacks, McCoy has had more challenging prospects. Yet, he got Tim Tebow to lead the Broncos to the playoffs. He somehow helped Kyle Orton throw 41 touchdowns in two seasons in Denver. He coaxed Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers offense to the playoffs multiple times, and all the way to the Super Bowl in 2003.
That kind of experience could prove invaluable to the Broncos current quarterback situation.
Bill Musgrave has spent the past two seasons helping to develop Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr into one of the league’s best young arms.
It hasn’t always been so easy for Musgrave. He has spent time tutoring journeyman quarterbacks like Jeff George, Koy Detmer, Joey Harrington, Christian Ponder, and Matt Cassel at his various coaching stops around the league.
Musgrave has shown a knack for developing good young quarterbacks that have gone on to have successful careers. He spent a few productive years in Jacksonville with Byron Leftwich, he was in Atlanta for a few seasons with a young rookie named Matt Ryan.
In Oakland, Musgrave showed that he is capable of bringing out the best in a young talented signal caller. During his rookie season, in 2014, Derek Carr threw 21 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. Over the next two seasons with Musgrave’s help, he threw 60 touchdowns with just 19 interceptions. There is no question that Carr is a special talent, but Musgrave clearly had some effect on his improved performance.
Currently, head coach Vance Joseph has stated that the Broncos quarterback competition is wide open. With Mike McCoy and Bill Musgrave on the staff, these two quarterbacks could make some major strides in becoming bona-fide NFL quarterbacks and taking the Denver Broncos to another level offensively.