There might be too much for a first-year guy to fix
Make no mistake, the coach that takes this job has his work cut out for him.
Not only have the Broncos missed the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons, but they fielded one of the most anemic offenses in NFL history this season. It is going to take a guy who has been in a spot like this before or at least had some previous head coaching experience.
It was thought before the season that the Broncos were just a quarterback away. That if they didn’t have Drew Lock as their starter, they would be a playoff team. That wasn’t even close to the truth and in my opinion, many Broncos fans seriously overvalue how good this team really is.
It’s not a good football team and the roster has many holes.
It will be a tough ask even for an experienced guy to come in here and get this thing turned around. But it will be expected to be a quick turnaround as another miserable season could leave Paton without a job and the team willing to take a massive salary cap hit to dump Russell Wilson.
It seems a bit of a stretch that one of these top young candidates such as DeMeco Ryans or Shane Steichen is the right guy for that job.