The Denver Broncos decided to change directions when they hired the 15-year veteran Sean Payton to be their head coach to replace last year’s rookie head coach, Nathaniel Hackett. But the way Payton tells it, there’s not much “old” in his approach.
“I like being around younger coaches now,” said Payton. “I mean, I still consider myself a younger coach. But then, you know, I sit in the room and listen to these young coaches — you get energized.”
Sean Payton Has Hired a Bevy of Young Coaches
Payton knows that he still has the experience to impart wisdom to the next generation of coaches. That’s why the coaching staff is full of people who fans might recognize as players. Former backup quarterback Davis Webb is a quality control assistant, while former safety Chris Banjo is an assistant special teams coach. Both played in the NFL last year.
In addition to the two of them, there are a number of coaches with under five years of experience on the roster. Offensive line coach Zach Strief has been coaching for two years and was a tackle for Payton’s Saints, while OLB coach Michael Wilhoite was a linebacker for both the 49ers and Seahawks for several years.
Marcus Dixon, the defensive line coach, played in the NFL from 2008 to 2014 as a defensive end and is entering his second year as an NFL coach.
The Denver Broncos Have Balanced Youth With Experience
There are other young coaches on the staff, like receivers coach Keary Colbert and tight ends coach Declan Doyle, but they’re counterbalanced by several veterans — even legends — throughout the coaching roster.
Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and pass game coordinator John Morton are reuniting with Payton. They collectively have 52 years of experienced as coaches.
The Broncos’ staff also added former head coach Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator, pairing him with veteran inside linebackers coach Greg Manusky.
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The biggest get might be on special teams, however. Payton lured special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff from retirement, interrupting a fishing trip to get him on board. According to Payton, Westhoff said, “I wouldn’t do this for anybody. But alright, when does it start.”
Payton added that Westhoff is a Hall of Fame-level coordinator.
“We brought him in to work with our kicking game [in New Orleans], he helped us tremendously,” he said. “I consider him one of the best coaches I’ve been around. He would be someone that would be right up there at the top. From a coordinator standpoint, you know, a Hall of Fame type coordinator. He’s got a unique personality. He’s a great teacher. And he thinks outside the box, and I liked those traits.”
Sean Payton Is an Old Dog Learning New Tricks
That love of innovation might be another reason we should consider Payton more of a younger coach, willing to embrace new ideas. Payton’s embrace of data-oriented approaches to football operations had resulted in one of the most data-integrated teams in the NFL in New Orleans.
He was one of the first coaches in the NFL to broadly embrace the use of tracking technology. The Saints under Payton were the first team to use that data in their football operation, having struck a deal with Zebra Technologies — the company behind the technology used for NFL’s Next Gen Stats data package — to help track practices nearly a decade ago.
Now, he’ll use it again in Denver, helping track everything from the effectiveness of play designs to the load being put on players in practices.
General manager George Paton, who has worked with both Fangio and Mike Zimmer, knows what it’s like to work with head coaches who are resistant to the use of data in football. With Payton — a spry five years younger than Fangio — he has a coach much more willing to embrace the data revolution in football.
One big element of this is the hiring of Beau Lowery as the vice president of player health and performance. Lowery, most recently LSU’s director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer, also worked with Payton in New Orleans. His analytical approach to player health appealed to Paton.
“He’s very progressive, data-oriented, on the medical side,” said the Broncos general manager. “It’ll be over the top; he’ll kind of bring everything together, strength and conditioning, the training room, and nutrition.”
That supervisory role should bring a consistency of approach to the various parts of the staff responsible for player health.
Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees regards Lowery as critical to his career and put out a statement after the Broncos’ hiring, saying that Lowery “added years to my career,” adding, “There is no better person you will find in this role to equip the team for health, recovery and success.”
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Payton’s statement echoed the sentiment, saying, “Beau Lowery is the best I’ve ever been around. He was a complete game-changer for us in New Orleans who reshaped how we operated in our training room and throughout our sports performance areas.”
At his NFL Combine availability, Payton tacked on to that, remarking on how impressive it was that Lowery received so many congratulations from players he’s worked with, adding that Lowery would be a “game-changer” in terms of player health and performance.
This approach — bringing in old heads to embrace new ideas — might be what turns the Broncos around.
