The Denver Broncos have two games left to play, but the writing is on the wall: Vance Joseph is likely gone. Does he have a new job lined up already?
Does Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph already have another job lined up if (or when) he’s let go?
According to Adam Schefter’s report — and reading between the lines — it sure sounds like it.
Vance Joseph, if let go by Broncos, expected to emerge as a potential Bengals’ DC candidate, per sources.https://t.co/TO0tTrMwMj
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 23, 2018
Schefter’s report says this:
"“If the Denver Broncos part ways with head coach Vance Joseph, he is expected to emerge as a candidate for the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator job and potentially even their head-coaching job when Marvin Lewis decides he has had enough of coaching, a league source told ESPN.”"
If the Denver Broncos part with head coach Vance Joseph he is expected to emerge as a candidate for these jobs which currently don’t exist?
It sure sounds like these things are already being discussed, and Schefter is using the correct verbiage to make sure no lines are crossed in implying that these things are already moving behind the scenes.
Joseph previously worked with Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati as a defensive backs coach (2014-15). He had success while he was there in that role and has only been a defensive coordinator for one season (2016) with the Miami Dolphins.
He would have been the Broncos’ defensive coordinator in 2015 had the Bengals not blocked him from that particular interview. The Broncos settled for Wade Phillips instead, and the rest is history.
Joseph’s one year as a defensive coordinator in Miami was not an overly successful one, which is why so many Broncos fans were up in arms about two years ago when the team hired him over Kyle Shanahan, who was younger and had been a successful coordinator for a much longer period of time in the NFL.
Now, two years later, John Elway gets a chance to change the course of the franchise once more. The team stuck with Joseph for a second year, and the Broncos have been ‘better’ this season but they are not finishing games and lack a killer instinct.
That’s ultimately reflective of the head coach, fair or not.
The Broncos have likely already informed Joseph of their timeline behind the scenes, which would explain this report. Schefter would not put this out there if there weren’t some legs to it already. He’s not a rumor mill — Schefter is a reporter and probably the most reliable one in the business at that.
The way he worded his report here makes it seem like the Bengals and Joseph have already discussed this possibility. If it ends up happening, we’ll know that was the case.