Denver Broncos: 4 reasons Vic Fangio should not be fired
4. Financial ramifications
The Denver Broncos initially signed Vic Fangio to a four-year contract with a fifth-year team option. They lured Fangio out of Chicago in 2019 for his first-ever head coaching gig in the NFL.
If the Broncos were to fire Fangio after two years, they would not just simply be able to stop paying him money.
Just like any other contract, the Broncos would owe Fangio money beyond 2020 and if they were to fire him, they would be paying both Fangio and some new head coach money for just one of them to coach the Broncos in 2020.
Further, Vic Fangio is in year 2 of a 5 year deal (4 plus a team option).
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) December 4, 2020
The Broncos are not going fire him just to pay him to DC for someone else at his salary. https://t.co/qk4JXcXXVy
In essence, as Allbright says in his tweet, the Broncos would be paying Fangio to coordinate someone else’s defense. Not to mention, letting go of Fangio would have ramifications all over the coaching roster in terms of guys who came to Denver because of Fangio being there.
That extends into the player realm as well.
The Broncos’ decision to extend a player like Mike Purcell shows just how much they believe in Fangio as a coach and player developer, in my opinion.
Fangio, like any new head coach in the NFL, deserves time to prove whether he is or isn’t the right man for the job. If the Broncos were a team with a roster like the Kansas City Chiefs or Green Bay Packers and they were 4-7, the discussion would be different.
Considering where the Broncos are at right now in terms of their youth on offense and the barrage of injuries on defense, it is impossible to justify firing Fangio with so many of the circumstances out of his control.
All of the evidence we have right now indicates that Fangio works well with John Elway and the front office. He has a good culture brewing in the locker room. He’s under contract for at least two more seasons. He has done a good job scheming defense regardless of personnel and he’s been an asset in player development. He is a critical voice who understands the expectations in Denver are to win games.
There are way too many positive ways Fangio has impacted this Denver Broncos team to even consider firing him.