As the Denver Broncos take the field at home for the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, the headlines naturally orbit quarterbacks and playoff stakes. Jarrett Stidham is under center for Denver.
Drake Maye, the Patriots QB, is trying to rewrite what it means to be a rookie. But on the sideline, bundled in team colors and quietly orchestrating chaos, stands Vance Joseph, a coach whose career has never followed linearity and who somehow feels perfectly at home in this moment.
A Look at Vance Joseph’s Career as a Player
Joseph’s repertoire has been earned, rep by rep, sack by sack, through a defense that refused to bend when the field shrinks. And as his name circulates once again in head-coaching conversations, many are wondering whether he has playing experience as well.
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Before he was trusted with stopping the league’s best offenses, Vance Joseph spent his early football life trying to lead one. At the University of Colorado in the 1990s, Joseph played for the Buffaloes as both a quarterback and a running back, learning how offenses think, how quarterbacks see the field, and how momentum shifts before anyone else notices.
That perspective mattered later, though at the time, the future wasn’t exactly rolling out a red carpet. Joseph went undrafted in 1995, but the NFL came calling. The New York Jets signed him as an undrafted free agent, and Joseph did something that would become a theme in his life: he adapted.
Switching from offense to defense, Joseph remade himself as a cornerback. It was less glamorous, more responsible, and gave him minimal margin for error. He spent the 1995 season with the Jets and followed it with the Indianapolis Colts in 1996. Over two NFL seasons, he recorded 21 tackles and two interceptions.
When his playing career ended, Joseph did not drift far from the game. Coaching became the next chapter, and it stuck. Over the next 12 years, he worked as a defensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, and Miami Dolphins, steadily building a reputation as a teacher and a tactician. By the Broncos hired him as a head coach in 2017, Joseph had already lived multiple football lives.
That first time in Denver did not last, however. He was fired after the 2018 season, a professional heartbreak that could have defined him, but didn’t. Joseph recalibrated, served as the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive coordinator from 2019 to 2022, and returned to Denver in 2023 with a quieter confidence and sharper edge.
With him, the Broncos allowed the third-fewest points in the NFL and led the league in sacks for the second consecutive season. In the red zone, Denver was ruthless, allowing touchdowns on just 42.6% of trips inside the 20. Five games ended without allowing a single touchdown, and ten opponents were held under 20 points. PFSN’s DEFi ranks the team No. 1 with a score of 90.1.
