Broncos surprised Rap Sheet with the Pat Shurmur hire

The Denver Broncos surprised NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport by landing Pat Shurmur, a coveted offensive coordinator free agent around the league.

Just like pretty much everyone else, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport was a bit stunned to see the Denver Broncos fire Rich Scangarello earlier this month.

As I was enjoying the early goings of the beatdown the Houston Texans were putting on the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs, really one of the last things I was expecting was any sort of Broncos news at all, much less a bombshell like the one that was dropped.

I had to double check to make sure the news was coming from verified sources, that the Broncos had actually let go of Rich Scangarello as their offensive coordinator after preaching continuity.

Once the reality of the situation set in, the only thing I could think was that John Elway/Vic Fangio had a clear upgrade in mind, and that turned out to be the case.

That was also the way Rapoport was thinking, and he shared some of his thoughts on the Shurmur hire to Alexis Perry of DenverBroncos.com.

"“One of the more underrated moves the Broncos made, or have made in a long time, is hiring Pat Shurmur. I have to be honest, I didn’t think that was going to happen. He had four offers, he was extremely coveted as an OC, (and) he was kind of weighing them (his options) and figuring out where he wanted to go — a lot of good teams who wanted him.Then Vic Fangio fires Scangarello and I was like, ‘Has to be Shurmur.’ The only reason you’d fire an offensive coordinator like that has to be Shurmur…To me that’s all really good news for Drew Lock.”Ian Rapoport (DenverBroncos.com)"

Rapoport also went on to say that Shurmur was one of the people who felt like Drew Lock was among the 2-3 best quarterback prospects in last year’s draft. The Giants obviously had Lock in New York for a top-30 draft visit and they ended up taking Daniel Jones, who was good as a rookie for them as well.

The fact that Shurmur had four offers, or as has also been reported four offers besides Denver, speaks volumes to what he thinks of Drew Lock as a player and person.

There were a number of offensive coordinator vacancies around the NFL, notably in Minnesota where Shurmur had previously been an offensive coordinator as well as Jacksonville, Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington (which has another class of 2019 QB in Dwayne Haskins), and Carolina.

We don’t know which teams offered Shurmur a contract, but we do know that the Chicago Bears were one of those teams.

Considering Shumur’s background and having been part of the Andy Reid coaching tree just like Matt Nagy, it makes sense that Nagy would target him. Not only that, but the Bears are entering desperation mode for someone to develop Mitch Trubisky, or he’s going to be out of Chicago soon.

The Broncos sacrificed continuity for the sake of bringing in Shurmur, a coveted coordinator candidate this offseason. His presence elevates the expectations from Broncos Country even higher than they were before.