With the NFL draft quickly approaching, now is the time of year for teams to come together for voluntary OTAs while simultaneously preparing for that important selection process.
Vic Fangio, new head coach of the Denver Broncos, is already changing things up at Dove Valley.
First and foremost, he’s asking his players to wear their game jerseys during OTAs, which is something not normally seen around the league.
“The whole reason we do that is to cut down on the grabbing,” Fangio explained. “When you wear the loose shirts, it’s very easy—almost unavoidable—for the players to grab each other when they’re going against each other…So we want to make it game-like as much as we can. That’s why we practice with them.”
Making everything as game-like as possible this early on is intelligent; preparing to win games is what it’s all about.
But, outside of wearing their game jerseys during these voluntary workouts, Fangio is also changing the way the team evaluates talent. Instead of all the coaches and front office people watching film of soon-to-be drafted players together, he asks them to form their own opinions individually, first.
“By myself at first,” Fangio said. “I like everybody to watch them by themselves and form their own opinions—not be influenced by others’ opinions. Especially if I say something in a group setting, that might influence their opinion. I don’t want to influence their opinion at that stage. I want their honest opinion, and we’ll all come together at the end and form a Denver Broncos opinion.”
This key quote from Fangio shows where he’s at in terms of leadership. Yes, he’s the head honcho as the head coach. And, being that new head man in town, he knows his assistant coaches are likely to follow his lead in order to save face.
But, that’s not how winning teams are built.
Instead, Fangio wants his assistant coaches and the front office personnel to go in, watch film of key players the Broncos may be interested in drafting and then bring those individual opinions forward when they all meet before the draft and form their collective Denver Broncos draft board.
After two years under a head coach who seemed lost at every turn, Fangio seems to just get it. From donning the jerseys to get his players in the mindset of playing in games, to welcoming a vast number of opinions when it comes to player evaluation; Fangio is building a winner from the ground-up and in a hurry.
He likely knows that’s what’s demanded of him not only from his boss, John Elway, but from Broncos Country itself as well. This fan base — one of the best in all American professional sports — is hungry for a winner.
However, the roster inherited by Fangio was not only full of holes but also the culture has been altered over the last few seasons. Some of those holes were already filled by Elway — Joe Flacco at QB, two new star cornerbacks as well as a starting right tackle — while some holes persist.
Next week’s draft is a key place for Denver to continue to improve that roster and turn this team from a perennial loser back into a playoff contender.
With Fangio in charge — asking for as many opinions as possible as well as doing the little things that build winners — it seems the questions isn’t “if” the Broncos will make the playoffs again, but “when?” It could be in 2019.
