There have been a few developments since our last update on the state of the Denver Broncos’ coaching staff.
First up, the departures: After being let go by Denver, inside linebackers coach Peter Hansen has joined the Carolina Panthers in a lateral move. He will reunite with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in Charlotte.
The Broncos are also losing defensive intern coach DeAndre Thompson, who announced on Twitter he has joined the Detroit Lions.
Elsewhere on the coaching front, offensive assistant Kevin Petry has decided to remain with the New Orleans Saints after drawing interest from Denver. And former Broncos offensive line coach Butch Barry has landed an o-line coach job with the Miami Dolphins.
Finally, the most notable development of the last 48 hours: The Broncos have discussed bringing 75-year-old coach Mike Westhoff out of retirement to join Sean Payton‘s staff “in some capacity,” according to The MMQB’s Albert Breer.
Bringing coaches out of retirement certainly isn’t unheard of — Denver just brought a 67-year-old Jerry Rosburg out of retirement last year to serve as a senior assistant, but it’s also not common.
Westhoff has served as a special teams coach with four different teams, but he hasn’t coached in the NFL since 2018. The veteran coach worked under Payton with the Saints from 2017-2018.
If the Broncos do hire Westhoff, it presumably wouldn’t be as the special teams coordinator. He would be more likely to join the team as a consultant or senior assistant, similar to the kind of role Bill Kollar (70) had last year.
We are tracking all of the coaching staff changes on this page.
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