As front offices and coaching staffs are being built around the NFL, it's nice to see the Denver Broncos getting picked from instead of dispersing after being fired. The Broncos have a tremendous and future Hall of Fame head coach in Sean Payton, who has assembled a fantastic staff. That extends from the front office onto the field as well.
The Broncos already lost assistant general manager Darren Mougey to the New York Jets, who hired him to become their top guy at GM. Now, they've lost tight ends coach Declan Doyle, an up-and-coming coaching candidate who has been a longtime favorite of Sean Payton and whose coaching roots extend back to Kirk Ferentz with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Doyle was hired away by new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson to be his offensive coordinator. Doyle will go from one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the NFL in Bo Nix to his 2024 classmate, Caleb Williams, in Chicago.
Broncos lose TEs coach Declan Doyle to Bears as new offensive coordinator
#Bears are hiring Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) January 27, 2025
Doyle is just 28 years old and has been in the coaching realm already for nearly the entirety of his 20s. He got his start as a student assistant with Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes program before getting recognized by Sean Payton and the Saints in 2019. He spent four years with the Saints as an offensive assistant before getting hired on by Payton in Denver as the tight ends coach.
Needless to say, there has been nothing overly spectacular going on with Denver's tight ends in recent years as far as the passing game is concerned. In fact, the Broncos have been one of the league's worst teams when it comes to getting guys involved in the passing game. But that's not Doyle's fault, and the tight end position will be an emphasis for the Broncos in the 2025 offseason.
He helped develop guys like undrafted free agent Nate Adkins, who cracked the roster as an undrafted rookie before leading the position group in touchdown catches (3) this past season. He also helped develop Lucas Krull, a former practice squad player who led the Broncos' tight ends in receptions (19) this past season.
You can tell that Ben Johnson wants that Detroit/New Orleans flavor on his staff having worked for/with Dan Campbell dating back to his time with the Miami Dolphins. Culturally, you're getting someone who knows how you like to do things. Stylistically, Doyle is going to have plenty of background in the way Johnson likes to do things given he's spent the majority of the last six years with Sean Payton.
It's an intriguing hire by the Bears and you have to figure Johnson feels like Doyle is going to work well with his young players on that side of the ball as we saw the Broncos take one of the youngest rosters in the NFL to the playoffs in 2024.