Denver Broncos: Pat Shurmur adds to experienced staff
The Denver Broncos are going to have Pat Shurmur overseeing the offense, giving them a lot of experience on the coaching staff overall.
The Denver Broncos have one of the youngest rosters in the entire NFL.
Although it would have been ideal for everything to work out with offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, a first-year NFL play-caller in 2019, the Broncos and head coach Vic Fangio have decided to part ways with Scangarello and make Pat Shurmur their offensive coordinator moving forward.
Having a first-year head coach like Vic Fangio was a new experience for the Broncos as Fangio has coached successfully in the NFL for the majority of the last 30 years. It was seemingly between Scangarello and former Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak around this time last year for the vacant offensive coordinator position, and Denver opted to go with the younger Scangarello, a disciple of Kyle Shanahan.
Things didn’t work out with Scangarello, and the Broncos saw an opportunity to get Shurmur and pounced at it. They were even in competition with a number of other teams, which means Shurmur viewed the Denver situation as the top situation available.
Despite the fact that Fangio is only in his second year, the Broncos’ coaching staff now has a head coach and two former head coaches in Shurmur (Giants, Browns) and Mike Munchak (Titans).
With Fangio having such a major role with the defense, the hiring of Shurmur along with the presence of Mike Munchak really gives the Broncos a great combination of coaches on either side of the football and people who can be trusted week in and week out to have their areas ready to go.
Not only that, but all of Fangio, Shurmur, and Munchak are noted for their ability to develop talent at their respective areas of expertise, Shurmur being a quarterbacks (and sometimes tight ends) guy.
Between those three guys alone, the Broncos have 81 years of NFL coaching experience, and that could be critical for a team with so much youth.
Time will tell if this move was the right one for the Broncos as their young offensive core is now going to have to re-acclimate itself to a new offense, some of these players entering their third season with their third different NFL offense to go through.
Consistency among coaching staffs is rare in the NFL, and the Broncos know that all too well over the past few seasons. They’ve been trying desperately to get things right on offense, and hope now that the combination of Shurmur with his experience as well as the growth of their talented core of players can be the thing that finally pushes this unit to be where it needs to be.