A quick preface: Fans and media don’t always know best.
Now that we’ve established that, I’ve got a question – actually, you have the same question: What in the holy heck are the Denver Broncos doing?
Really?
At the moment, that’s the prevailing notion in Denver, Colorado. On Thursday, rumors and multiple reports began to surface that former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph – fired after the 2018 season but who had most recently been the defensive coordinator for the Cardinals – had been offered the job as Denver’s defensive coordinator under new head coach Sean Payton. Almost universally, the reaction in Denver was resoundingly negative. Joseph wasn’t liked as the Broncos head coach and hasn’t done much to show he’s turned the corner as a coordinator either. At best, the move to everyone outside the organization, was a headscratcher.
On the surface, it seems like a lateral move, a no-no in the NFL. And it would have been, if Joseph hadn’t been “let go” in Arizona. Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury was fired after his team went 4-13 this season; Joseph interviewed for the head coaching vacancy, didn’t get the job, and was instead released from the final year of his defensive coordinator contract once Jonathan Gannon was hired. In other words, the coordinator of one of the worst defenses in the league, for a team with one less win than the Broncos, is now your new defensive coordinator. Pretty… um… exciting, isn’t it?
Joseph’s last stint in Denver was hardly celebrated. After all, it felt as if Joseph, who was hired following the successful tenure of Gary Kubiak, was the very man who ushered in the Broncos most recent six-year run of futility. Kubiak’s two years yielded a Super Bowl title and a 22-11 regular season record.
Fans in Denver asked “Who?” when Joseph, then called a “leader of men” by John Elway, was hired the first time in Denver. And if they weren’t asking “Who?” they were still asking “Why?” Joseph was a standout player at the University of Colorado but was fresh off running a Miami Dolphins defense that finished the 2016 season ranked No. 18 in the NFL – not exactly a feat worthy of making Joseph a “hot” head coaching candidate. While it certainly wasn’t Joseph’s fault, it didn’t help that the Broncos said “no thanks” to Kyle Shanahan, the hottest candidate at the time who has since gone on to be one of best coaches in the NFL.
Objectively, Joseph didn’t have a hall of fame quarterback on his roster, and the Broncos lack of success cannot fairly be attributed to “just” Joseph, but his defenses were nothing special. And they haven’t been since, either.
There are fundamental, unbiased reasons to wonder just exactly why Joseph was an option at all. Simply looking at Joseph’s resume has nothing to do with Denver’s hard feelings, but such an investigation yields the same sentiment: Vance Joseph? Really?
Aside from his bottom-half defense in Miami before winning the head job in Denver, Joseph has never led a top-10 NFL defense. Not one. With Denver, his first defense finished the 2017 season ranked 22nd. The 2018 version improved to No. 13, but it was too late, as his record as a head coach was a paltry 11-21. Brought on in Arizona as the defensive coordinator in 2019, Joseph’s defenses ranked 28th, 12th, 11th and 31st. In other words, Joseph has never had a defense that ranked in the top-third of the NFL, and in four of his seven seasons as a coordinator or head coach, his defenses have finished in the bottom half. Last season – what would normally be a new hire’s “audition” – his defense was the second-worst in the NFL.
Forget the name. Forgo the feelings. There’s very little on Joseph’s Pro Football Reference page that screams “Hire this guy!” That’s just a fact.
Perhaps what’s more disturbing about the Broncos’ newest coaching hire is that nobody whose last name isn’t “Joseph” would have been upset if the Broncos had not made the move. In fact, if the team had bothered to take a straw poll, they’d have quickly discovered that nobody who gives two rips about the Broncos would have wanted to hire Joseph. Perhaps some fans might have picked Joseph over some of the other final candidates – a group that felt a little like Nikola Jokic might have when he was picked last in the NBA All Star Game draft – but it’s not irresponsible to suggest that absolutely nobody in Denver would have ever put Joseph’s name atop their wish list from the outset of the search.
Ejiro Evero would have been ideal. Rex Ryan would have been intriguing. Matt Patricia has had success in the past. Wade Phillips would have been wildly celebrated. An up-and-comer no-name wouldn’t have been disliked.
But Joseph? The news was met with reactions that ranged from ire and laughs to shrugs of indifference (at best). Zero parties were thrown.
None of this is to say that Joseph won’t be a fine defensive coordinator. He very well could be; perhaps he’s learned from past failures and will benefit from better talent in Denver. Sean Payton is no dummy; his expertise should be trusted until proven otherwise. At this point, it’s only fair that Joseph is given the chance to prove he was the right hire.
However, the first time the Broncos defense lets the opposition put up a 30-burger, Joseph will be the loathed once again, and the trust in Broncos Country for the new head coach could be revoked. There are many more factors involved, but the moment Joseph looks like a bad hire, Payton’s honeymoon in Denver could be over.
But the very worst part of the newest version of the Vance Joseph experiment, is that the organization appears to be incredibly tone deaf. As was noted from the outset, fans and media don’t always know best – in fact they probably rarely do. But in Denver, fans aren’t dumb, either. They most definitely know the difference between a Super Bowl contender and pure garbage (which is what they’ve been forced to watch for the past six seasons). Hiring Joseph – whether he succeeds or not – is a slap in the face to one of the NFL’s most loyal and intelligent fan bases. Bringing him in means that anyone in a decision making capacity either didn’t listen or didn’t care.
Firing Nathanial Hackett was, if nothing else, a great response to a very, very angry fan base. Hiring Sean Payton was another step in the right direction. But reuniting with Vance Joseph feels like picking at a wound that doesn’t need to be reopened.
Was there nobody within the walls of Dove Valley aware enough or smart enough to speak up, suggesting that this move would not go over well? John Elway or Joe Ellis – both consultants, last we heard – couldn’t have predicted that? Is George Paton’s nose so deep in analytics and previous bad coaching hires that he’s unable to read the room? Condoleezza Rice is not only a proud citizen of Broncos Country, but she’s also an owner; was she unaware of how fans in the backyard feel?
Whether it’s ignorance, arrogance or indifference, the hiring of Vance Joseph doesn’t sit well in these parts. Simply put, it’s tone deaf.
