Broncos To Interview Kyle Shanahan On 1/7
- Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan‘s head coaching interviews with the Jaguars and 49ers took place Friday, tweets Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. Shanahan will meet Saturday with the Broncos, relays Cameron Wolfe of the Denver Post (Twitter link). The 37-year-old reportedly prefers the Broncos’ job to the other openings around the league.
Browns To Fire DC Ray Horton
Ray Horton is out as defensive coordinator in Cleveland, according to Alex Marvez of The Sporting News (on Twitter). Already, the search is on for his replacement. Gregg Williams has been offered the job and Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has been contacted about the vacancy. 
The Browns were a dumpster fire on both sides of the ball this year, but head coach Hue Jackson apparently feels that the team will need a philosophical change on defense. This year, the Browns finished next-to-last in defensive DVOA and they would have been dead last if it weren’t for the Lions’ awful ratings.
Williams is currently in the midst of his second stint as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. After coach Jeff Fisher was canned, the Rams informed all assistants that they were free to seek other jobs. Williams, naturally, isn’t just waiting around to see if the next head coach in L.A. wants to keep him on board. However, the Cleveland job might not be the gig he has his eye on. There are better situations out there from a personnel standpoint, including the Redskins gig.
Phillips has enjoyed great success in Denver, but he is on an expiring contract and unlikely to return. Phillips would be a splashy hire for a Browns team desperately seeking advancement in 2017.
Vance Joseph Favorite For Broncos’ HC Job
Although he hasn’t met with Denver officials, Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has emerged as the front-runner to become the Broncos’ head coach, multiple league and team sources told Mike Klis of 9NEWS. Sporting News’ Alex Marvez previously named Joseph as the likely successor to Gary Kubiak, citing Joseph’s connection with Broncos director of player personnel Matt Russell (Twitter link).
While Joseph hasn’t yet spoken with Denver’s brass this week, the former University of Colorado quarterback did interview with the club before it hired the now-retired Kubiak in January 2015. It’s also notable that Joseph once worked under the Broncos’ most recent defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, in Houston.
“I have so much respect for that man,” Joseph said of Phillips in October (via Cameron Wolfe of the Denver Post).
Despite Joseph’s affinity for Phillips, Marvez reported Thursday that the latter is likely on his way out of Denver. If hired, Joseph would probably promote defensive backs coach Joe Woods to replace Phillips, whose contract is up.
Joseph, who’s preparing to counter the Steelers’ offense in this weekend’s wild-card round, is in the midst of his first season as a coordinator. While it hasn’t gone well statistically (Miami finished the regular season 18th in scoring, 19th in DVOA and 29th in total defense), Joseph is nonetheless drawing plenty of interest from teams without head coaches. That could add to the Broncos’ urgency to hire the 44-year-old, who’s facing competition from Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan – who prefers Denver’s job to others – and Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub. Bills interim head coach Anthony Lynn‘s name has also come up, though the Broncos haven’t sought an interview with him, according to Klis (Twitter link).
Broncos Unlikely To Retain Wade Phillips
- Broncos: Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, whose contract is expiring, is unlikely to return to Denver, reports Marvez. If Dolphins D-coordinator Vance Joseph becomes the Broncos’ head coach, Denver’s defensive backs coach, Joe Woods, would likely succeed Phillips (Twitter links).
Vance Joseph Hasn’t Talked With Broncos Yet
As shown in PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has already been linked to a number of jobs. However, we may need to pump the brakes on one potential gig. Joseph told reporters today that he has not talked to the Broncos during this cycle (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s James Walker). 
[RELATED: PFR’s 2017 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Here’s what we do know: the Bills, Rams, Chargers, and 49ers have all requested interviews with Joseph. The Broncos did interview Joseph two years ago before hiring Gary Kubiak, but they have yet to loop him into the discussion this time around. Recently, Broncos GM John Elway said there are three or four candidates the team is “excited about,” but it’s not clear whether Joseph is a part of that exclusive group.
So far, Denver has booked interviews with Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub, and Bills interim head coach Anthony Lynn.
Kyle Shanahan Wants Broncos’ HC Job
With 170 regular-season victories and two Super Bowl titles from 1995-2008, Mike Shanahan remains the most successful head coach in the history of the Broncos. Now, if Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan has his way, he’ll follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the Broncos’ sideline. The popular head coaching candidate is a possibility to fill several vacancies around the NFL, but his preference is to end up in Denver, league sources told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
It’s easy to understand Shanahan’s appeal to head coach-needy teams, as the 37-year-old has distinguished himself as one of the league’s premier offensive assistants in stints with the Texans, Redskins, Browns and Falcons. Atlanta won the NFC South and has a first-round playoff bye thanks largely to its Shanahan-coached offense, which ended the regular season atop the league in DVOA and scoring. The Falcons piled up 71 more points than second-place New Orleans and scored on more than half their offensive possessions.
Now, if Shanahan parlays his success as a coordinator into the Broncos’ head coaching job, he’ll do as his father did and team with John Elway. Of course, in Mike Shanahan’s heyday, Elway was the quarterback. He’s now the general manager of a franchise that has less appealing signal-calling options in Trevor Siemian and 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch. The younger Shanahan would have to get more from either Siemian or Lynch than Gary Kubiak did this season, though the team could look outside the organization for a more estalished starter in the coming months.
Regardless of its future direction under center, it’s clear that the Broncos need help on offense after lackluster showings in each of the past two seasons. Denver’s defense carried a below-average offense to a Super Bowl championship a year ago, but the team wasn’t able to replicate that in 2016 en route to nine wins and a third-place finish in the AFC West.
Coaching Rumors: Lynn, 49ers, McDaniels
The latest news on the league’s coaching vacancies:
- For a complete rundown of every interview scheduled for the teams in search of a new coach, check out PFR’s 2017 NFL Head Coaching Tracker.
- Anthony Lynn‘s interview with the 49ers will take place today (Wednesday), according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
- Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will interview with the Rams, Jaguars, and 49ers all on the same day, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe writes. McDaniels will huddle up with all three teams on Saturday in separate rooms at a hotel near Gilette Stadium. Those three teams will be permitted to interview McDaniels again in the week after the AFC title game, if the Pats make it to the Super Bowl.
- The Chargers won’t force assistants on a new head coach, but they value their offensive staff, Rapoport tweets. There’s a good chance offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and his fellow offensive coaches stay put.
- The Broncos are expected to talk to Lynn at some point and will interview Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph as soon as the rules allow, Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com tweets.
- Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin is scheduled to meet with the Rams on Thursday and the Bills on Saturday, Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets.
- Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub will interview with the Broncos on Friday and then he has the Chargers on Sunday, Rapoport tweets.
Broncos To Interview Dave Toub This Week
Toub, who’s on a bye with the AFC West champion Chiefs, will also meet with the Broncos this week, relays Biggs. McDermott has a Wednesday interview set up with the Bills.
Broncos To Interview Vance Joseph
Unlike McVay, Joseph’s season isn’t over – the playoff-bound Dolphins will take on the Steelers in the wild-card round this weekend. Thus, it’s unclear when he’ll meet with the Niners. The Broncos will also interview Joseph, according to Getlin, while the Rams, Bills and Chargers have expressed interest in sitting down with him. Joseph, 44, is amid his first year as a defensive coordinator, one in which the Dolphins finished the regular season with unspectacular rankings in scoring (18th), DVOA (19th) and total defense (29th).
Coaching Rumors: Rams, Chargers, Patricia
We have six head coaching vacancies and it’s not easy to keep track of every candidate and development in each search. That’s why Pro Football Rumors rolled out the 2017 NFL Head Coaching Tracker this week. Bookmark the page and keep up with every bit of news out of Los Angeles, Buffalo, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, and Jacksonville.
Here’s the latest coaching news from around the league:
- The Rams‘ interview with Panthers assistant head coach Steve Wilks will take place today (Tuesday), a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). This marks the Rams’ first coach interview of this cycle.
- The Chargers have requested to interview Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Broncos, he adds, are expected to do the same. Special teams coordinators are not often considered for head coaching jobs, but we have seen a few serve as interim head coaches. In the past, Toub has been an advocate for special teams coaches to get a chance at running the show.
- Matt Patricia‘s interviews with the Rams and Chargers will go down this weekend, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Patricia, the defensive coordinator for the Patriots, must get his interviews out of the way before the Pats’ first playoff game.