The Denver Broncos and head coach Vic Fangio are closing in on completing their coaching staff, but who is set to coach on offense?
The Denver Broncos and new head coach Vic Fangio are working to assemble their full coaching staff, but questions remain on the offensive side of the ball.
After initially being blocked by the San Francisco 49ers, however, the Broncos were granted permission to bring Rich Scangarello in for an interview for their offensive coordinator position. Not to be dramatic or anything, but that position is just about as important as the head coaching position for the Broncos, which is why many fans were wanting the team to try and find the ‘next Sean McVay’ in the coaching search.
The fact of the matter is, that candidate did not exist this year, so the Broncos have gone with what appears to be the best alternative.
After hiring the NFL’s coordinator of the year in Fangio, the Broncos set their sights on luring Mike Munchak away from the Pittsburgh Steelers to be their offensive line coach. That didn’t take much luring on the part of the Broncos, though I’m sure Munchak is going to be one of the NFL’s highest-paid position coaches.
Munchak didn’t take any other head coaching interviews besides the one offered in Denver because he has family ties in the area. He didn’t immediately return to work with the Pittsburgh Steelers after Denver named Vic Fangio as head coach because he was determined to be closer to his daughter and grandchild who live in the Denver area.
Though the addition of Munchak is absolutely massive for the Broncos, he didn’t need a whole lot of convincing to come to Denver after he finished second to Fangio in the head coaching race.
But the inclusion of both Fangio and Munchak on the Broncos’ staff obviously doesn’t happen if the team doesn’t first hire Fangio. John Elway went with his gut there and ended up getting both of the top two guys he wanted anyway.
Here’s an update of the coaches we know of who are joining the Broncos, and the positions that are still unknown or presumed to be open:
Head coach: Vic Fangio (Bears)
Offensive Coordinator: Open
Defensive Coordinator: Ed Donatell (Bears)
Special Teams Coordinator: Tom McMahon
Quarterbacks: Open
Running backs: Curtis Modkins
Wide receivers: Zach Azzani
Tight ends: Open
Offensive line: Mike Munchak (Steelers)
Defensive line: Bill Kollar
Outside linebackers: Brandon Staley (Bears)
Inside linebackers: Reggie Herring
Defensive backs: Open
So what’s the timeline for some of these moves?
It stands to reason that the Broncos will address the offensive coordinator position (Rich Scangarello, 49ers) as soon as they possibly can. Scangarello could double as the quarterbacks coach and perhaps that’s what he and the Broncos are discussing.
The offensive coordinator is not ‘as’ hands-on with the quarterbacks as their position coach, but at the same time, Scangarello would be brought to Denver to orchestrate the entire unit and not just work with three guys.
Based on the fact that the Broncos had to get past the initial block from the 49ers to even interview Scangarello, there is undoubtedly mutual interest and that deal should be done relatively soon as long as his interview goes well.
For those who would like to know more about Scangarello, take a look at this post.
Regardless of who gets hired at this point, without Gary Kubiak in the picture, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator position is going to be the team’s most intriguing heading into the 2019 season because no one knows what to expect.
As of right now, the Broncos are the only team to request (and be granted) permission to interview with Scangarello. They could be ironing out some details of the staff in place around him.