16 Denver Broncos head coach options with Vic Fangio out

The Denver Broncos have moved in from head coach Vic Fangio after three seasons. Who are some candidates to replace him in the Mile High City?

The Denver Broncos have officially moved on from head coach Vic Fangio, and the team’s search for a new head coach is on.

Fangio will undoubtedly land on his feet elsewhere. As he stated after the Broncos’ 2021 season finale against the Chiefs, his future is “very good”.

General manager George Paton will now get the chance to hand-pick his new head coach, who will also get to select his new coaching staff. The days of Vic Fangio, Pat Shurmur, and Tom McMahon are now in the past.

As Tom Pelissero of NFL Network pointed out, it’s worth noting that the Denver Broncos have a “football guy” in George Paton making this crucial football decision.

What Pelissero is getting at with that tweet is the fact that a lot of times, business people make football decisions. I’m not naming any names (Jaguars) but a lot of teams do that. George Paton is a very widely respected individual in the NFL, one the Denver Broncos are lucky to have.

It’s going to be fascinating watching him select the team’s next head coach. By the way, there are a lot of candidates. This list that I’m about to unveil started as 10 guys, then expanded to 15, and then I figured I better throw number 16 in there as well because you never know.

In all honesty, the list is probably even more expansive than this. We’ll know soon which coaches are being prioritized by Paton but until then, here are 16 candidates to keep an eye on.

Denver Broncos 16 candidates to become new head coach

1. Dan Quinn, Dallas Cowboys DC

Watch out, Colin Cowherd — the Denver Broncos’ new head coach might prefer to wear a backward hat.

Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Dan Quinn is being considered by many as a front-runner for the Denver Broncos job opening and for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, there is a history between Dan Quinn and George Paton. When Quinn was leaving the Seattle Seahawks back in the day for a head coaching gig, he apparently wanted Paton to come with him as his GM.

There’s a mutual respect there between these guys and even though they didn’t join forces back in 2015, that marriage could be revisited in 2022.

Quinn has done an outstanding job this season as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator. He’s already taken a team (Falcons) to the Super Bowl as a head coach. He’s proven to be a player’s coach and someone that his players almost unanimously love.

Quinn’s career head coaching record is 44-42 with a 3-2 record in the postseason and one NFC South division title as head coach of the Falcons from 2015-2020. He was the defensive coordinator of the Legion of Boom and they dominated Super Bowl 48, though the NFL annals are not specific about which team they beat in that particular game.

Quinn obviously has a connection with Russell Wilson, who could potentially be a target of the Broncos in the 2022 offseason should he become available.

2. Nathaniel Hackett, Green Bay Packers OC

What is it the Denver Broncos need in their next head coach?

George Paton stated that leadership will be a priority, and one candidate that really exemplifies that is Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.

This NFL.com piece by Tom Pelissero outlines just a snippet of the great work Hackett has done as the offensive coordinator for Matt LaFleur. While Hackett is not the play-caller for the Packers, he handles offensive installation and game script.

He’s also managed to become one of the people in this world that reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers actually likes, which can’t be overstated.

The Broncos would obviously probably love the chance to get Rodgers in the building in 2022 if at all possible. We’ll see how that all works out as the offseason progresses, but as of right now, I think Hackett would be a fine candidate with or without Rodgers.

According to Pelissero’s piece, Hackett is a sparkplug on the Packers’ coaching staff and is someone who does outstanding, detailed work to help his players get prepared each week.

He seems like the kind of candidate that could work really well with any level of QB the Broncos might acquire in the 2022 offseason.

3. Jerod Mayo, LBs coach, New England Patriots

One of the more underrated candidates in this cycle being considered is New England Patriots defensive assistant Jerod Mayo.

Frankly, while I feel Mayo will ultimately be a hot head coach candidate, it feels like he might get a head coaching interview with teams and perhaps a promotion to defensive coordinator somewhere in 2022.

Remember the last time the Broncos interviewed head coach candidates, they wound up hiring two: Vic Fangio as the head coach, and Mike Munchak as the offensive line coach.

Mayo has been part of the Patriots’ defense as both a player and now as a coach, and at the age of 35, he’s being considered a rising star in the coaching community and we’ve seen teams in recent years willing to go after guys a year too soon rather than miss out a year too late (Sean McVay, Zac Taylor, Brian Flores to name a few).

Considering the success Brian Flores’ has had with the Miami Dolphins, perhaps someone like Mayo could have similar success as a head coach early on.

4. Doug Pederson, Free Agent

Very few coaches on the open market right now have won a Super Bowl as a head coach.

Doug Pederson and the Eagles obviously won the Super Bowl just a couple of years after the Broncos won Super Bowl 50. The way Pederson and Eagles GM Howie Roseman were handing out money to the guys they drafted and developed, it looked like they might be on their way to a potential dynasty.

Unfortunately, things did not work out with Carson Wentz in Philadelphia, and as we’ve seen in Denver, inconsistency at the QB position can really make head coaches look bad.

A lot of people think that Frank Reich is the reason why Pederson was successful in Philadelphia, and Reich certainly had a lot to do with their Super Bowl win.

However, Pederson should definitely be in consideration for the Broncos’ job because of the fact that he’s one of the only candidates to win a Super Bowl as a head coach, and the only one to win one as a head coach in any recent year.

Pederson was the offensive coordinator for Andy Reid in Kansas City from 2013-15 when the Broncos were playing some of their best football in the last three decades.

Although the Chiefs had some good teams in that time, they were completely overshadowed by the Broncos’ success.

5. Jim Caldwell, Free Agent

I mentioned that Doug Pederson is one of the only head coach options on this list to win a Super Bowl as a head coach.

Jim Caldwell is the other. Okay, technically he was only the “assistant” head coach, but still.

Caldwell is one of the most successful coaches in Detroit Lions history and one of the only ones to end his tenure as Lions head coach with a winning record.

That’s certainly a notch on his belt.

Although Caldwell was let go by the Lions because the team underachieved based on expectations, he’s been a very good head coach in this league and would almost certainly fit the “leadership” criteria George Paton is looking for.

Not that this means everything either, but I’m sure Peyton Manning would also vouch for Jim Caldwell.

Caldwell is 66 years old, and the older candidates on this list are borderline on the immediate “pass” list for me personally. Even so, Caldwell is getting consideration elsewhere in the league besides just potentially in Denver.

He has a 62-50 overall record as an NFL head coach.

6. Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs OC

Eric Bieniemy has become a really testy subject among football fans everywhere.

Nobody can figure out why he doesn’t have a job just yet, but everyone has an opinion about it. Every year, major NFL reporters tweet out about their disbelief over Bieniemy not being someone’s head coach.

Detractors will say that Bieniemy has troubling off-field history and that he has ridden the coattails of Andy Reid in Kansas City.

You’re also not getting Patrick Mahomes as part of a package deal.

Still, Bieniemy has been part of one of the winningest organizations in the NFL for nearly a decade now. At the age of 52, his time to get a shot as an NFL head coach is probably way past due.

The Broncos with John Elway and Matt Russell in charge did not seem to seriously consider Bieniemy back in 2019, and it’s possible that has something to do with Bieniemy having aforementioned off-field issues including at one point being banned from the Colorado-Boulder campus for an entire year.

George Paton, to some degree, has a working history with Bieniemy from their time together with the Vikings. Bieniemy was the Vikings running backs coach from 2006-09 and Paton joined the Vikings in 2007.

How much will the off-field history play into his chances of getting a head coaching gig in 2022? Will George Paton as the GM give Bieniemy a shot in Denver?

This one could be interesting to follow. It will be fascinating if Bieniemy even gets an interview.

7. Jonathan Gannon, Philadelphia Eagles DC

Jonathan Gannon is another fascinating candidate for the head coaching gig as a former scout, something George Paton can relate with, and another candidate who has ties to Paton from having worked with the Vikings.

Although prior working experience with Paton is not a requirement, some of the candidates that have worked with him certainly stand out a little bit.

Gannon was with the Vikings from 2014-17, so it wasn’t like his time in Minnesota was just a blip on the radar, either.

Frankly, hiring Gannon would be going out on a serious limb at least based on what we know of him.

Although he has an impressive resume for a younger head coach candidate in terms of how long he’s worked in the NFL and the roles he’s held, Gannon seems like he could be this year’s version of what Vance Joseph was in 2017.

I mean that in the best way possible, don’t get it twisted.

The Broncos liked Vance Joseph a couple of years before they ended up actually hiring him. They liked his leadership qualities but at the time the Broncos hired him, Joseph hadn’t really done anything notable in the NFL as a top coordinator.

Likewise, the Eagles were middle-of-the-pack this year under Gannon in terms of scoring defense. Of course, the Broncos would not hire him or not hire him just based on one year of scoring defense statistics. It would just be nice if there were something else for Gannon to be able to hang his hat on.

Still, what had Sean McVay really done before he got hired by the Rams? If a guy blows you away in the interview process, you’ve got to make the move to get him.

Also, this seems notable now that the Eagles’ season has ended with a playoff berth:

Maybe we shouldn’t be sleeping on the 39-year-old Eagles DC…

8. Marcus Brady, Indianapolis Colts OC

One name to file away in this head coach search is Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady.

Prior to being hired on as an assistant with the Indianapolis Colts in 2018, Brady had spent his entire professional football career as a player and coach in the Canadian Football League.

The Colts had the 7th-ranked offense this year, the first year for Brady as “offensive coordinator” though obviously Frank Reich is obviously heavily involved there.

Brady, like some other candidates on this list, might get head coaching interviews in the event that he might be willing to sign on as a full-time play-caller for some other team. Would the Colts block him from that? It’s hard to say at this point, but he obviously helped with the resurgence of Carson Wentz this year and the Colts had arguably the MVP of the NFL in Jonathan Taylor in their offense.

Taylor didn’t put together such a phenomenal season without some help around him.

Wentz went from leading the NFL in interceptions in 2020 to throwing 26 touchdowns and only six interceptions this past season for the Colts, and that was with some pretty uneven wide receiver play.

Brady’s track record of putting QBs in positions to succeed is noteworthy at this point.

9. Brian Callahan, Cincinnati Bengals OC

Brian Callahan is one of the more important people you didn’t know was part of the best years of modern Broncos football history.

Callahan was an assistant through the Peyton Manning years and a couple of years leading up to that, working with the Broncos from 2010-2015 before getting a job in Detroit.

Now, Callahan works as the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator. Obviously, having Joe Burrow healthy and under center has helped Callahan and Zac Taylor look good, but he’s a strong candidate in his own right.

Callahan has obviously worked with a variety of different levels of quarterback throughout his coaching career.

In Denver, he worked with the rollercoaster that was Kyle Orton to Tim Tebow to Peyton Manning. In Detroit, he worked with Matthew Stafford. With the Raiders, he worked with Derek Carr. In Cincinnati, he’s worked with Burrow and others.

If the Broncos and GM George Paton are going to prioritize the QB position with this prospective hire, a coach like Callahan coming in and bringing an experienced defensive coach along with him could be a really strong choice.

10. Kellen Moore, Dallas Cowboys OC

It seems like just yesterday that Kellen Moore was slinging the rock at Boise State.

Moore got his pension as an NFL player and got the heck into coaching where he’s been a pretty resounding success.

Working with Dak Prescott and a very highly-paid host of offensive skill talent with the Dallas Cowboys, Moore has done a fine job.

If I were Jerry Jones, I might be inclined to cut Moore a blank check to keep my offense intact, but for prospective teams looking to hire a new head coach, Moore has obvious appeal.

Again, as with many candidates, he’s not bringing his QB with him. Moore will have to create his own legacy as a coach wherever he goes and it feels like he would need experience all around him on the coaching staff.

Frankly, I’m not so sure Moore isn’t in the perfect lane as an offensive coordinator, and who knows how soon he’ll be ready for a head coaching gig? As we’ve seen with Sean McVay in Los Angeles, maybe some guys are more ready than we know or think.

The option of Moore running the Broncos’ offense is appealing on some level, but is this guy the leader Paton is looking for? That remains to be seen.

6 more Denver Broncos head coach candidates

11. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan (NCAA)

If Jim Harbaugh is listening to offers, why wouldn’t George Paton give it a shot? Remember I said, Paton is one of the most respected guys in the NFL. I’m sure Harbaugh would at least take his call.

Still, this would require a move of blockbuster proportions. It’s not completely out of the question and it would certainly be swinging for the fences, but will Harbaugh be requiring final say over the roster if he is hired by an NFL team or is he willing to defer to someone like George Paton?

With the Raiders or Bears, Harbaugh could theoretically be the head coach and GM. In Denver, not so much.

12. Brian Daboll, Buffalo Bills OC

With the work Daboll has done in recent years with Josh Allen, he’ll likely get consideration from just about every team with an opening.

Given his relationship with and connection to Nick Saban, I wouldn’t be surprised if Paton had interest here.

13. Byron Leftwich, Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC

Leftwich is going to get a lot of looks from teams with head coach vacancies. He’s done a good job with the Bucs the last few years and obviously, it’s commendable that he has worked so well with Tom Brady.

14. Leslie Frazier, Buffalo Bills DC

Frazier is another candidate on the older side, but he has an obvious connection to George Paton from his time with the Minnesota Vikings.

After firing Vic Fangio, the option of Frazier coming in as the head coach would likely not exactly thrill everyone in Broncos Country but his players do love him.

15. Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers DC

Bowles is one of the best defensive coordinators in the game and he got something of a raw deal with his first head coaching gig with the Jets.

16. Kevin O’Connell, Los Angeles Rams OC

One of the latest disciples of Sean McVay, Kevin O’Connell is a former Patriots third-round pick at the QB position who was blocked by the Rams from interviewing for OC jobs last cycle.

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Could he get head coaching offers this time around? So many NFL teams have wanted a piece of the McVay tree since he was hired by the Rams, and frankly, a lot of those guys who worked with him are working out with other teams.