On the latest episode of the Broncos Wire podcast, I joined host Ryan O’Leary to discuss coaching staff changes, Courtland Sutton’s tradestatus, Super Bowl LVIII and more.
You can view our notes from this week’s episode below.
NFL coaching carousel updates
Raiders stick with Antonio Pierce (5-4 as interim)
Chargers land Jim Harbaugh, who turned down Greg Penner last year and remained at Michigan. Now having won a national championship, Harbaugh will return to the NFL and he’s landing in the AFC West.
Would we rather have Harbaugh and last year’s 1st-round pick and this year’s 2nd-round pick or Sean Payton right now?
At least neither Bill Belichick nor Mike Vrabel have landed in the division. Belichick for Broncos defensive coordinator???
After losing DC Ejiro Evero last year, Payton wanted to hire Vic Fangio as DC, but Fangio did not return to Denver. Fangio then joined the Dolphins and after one season he is leaving Miami for a lateral move to the Eagles.
The Broncos, meanwhile, have said nothing about the status of DC Vance Joseph, so he’s presumably sticking around for 2024? DBs coach Christian Parker has drawn interest from Pats and Packers as DC candidate.
Not a coach update, but front office related: Broncos hired Saints assistant college scouting director Cody Rager as their new vice president of player personnel. GM George Paton is sticking around, but Rager is a “Payton guy” and I can’t help but wonder if a promotion might be in store for him down the road …
Courtland Sutton expecting to leave Broncos in 2024?
Sutton wrote a post on his Instagram page that kind of sounded like a goodbye to Broncos fans. Part of it read, “I know all things happen for a reason and I trust my Gods plans over everything including whatever is next for me. Just know I gave everything to this team and organization every time I stepped on that field! All Love 14 .”
Last offseason, when there were rumors of the Broncos potentially trading Sutton, he wrote “I just want to be where I’m wanted and appreciated” on his Twitter page. No trade happened and he scored 10 touchdowns in 2023.
Now going into 2024, Denver has six draft picks and GM George Paton has said they would like to get more through trades. Players like Sutton, Jerry Jeudy and Justin Simmons might be trade candidates as the Broncos look to acquire more picks and enter a rebuilding phase.
Super Bowl LVIII
Go 49ers, go!
Broncos fans can’t help but wonder what the team would look like if Mike Shanahan’s son was Denver’s coach, Ed McCaffrey’s son was their star running back and Hall of Fame Broncos safety John Lynch was their GM.
Kyle Shanahan interviewed for Denver’s HC job in 2017 but Joe Ellis and John Elway hired Vance Joseph instead.
Elway helped mentor John Lynch as a GM trainee — he sat in on Broncos’ drafts — and late former owner Pat Bowlen offered Lynch a job with the team “many times.” Lynch chose to instead wait for the perfect opportunity and he got it when the 49ers offered him their GM job in 2017.
It’s a bummer that the Broncos were not able to land Shanahan, McCaffrey and Lynch in 2017, but we’ll definitely be rooting for them to beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Consider me a die-hard San Francisco fan!
Ryan and I will return with new episodes when news pops up during the offseason.
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