John Elway met with Bears defensive coordinator | Forum

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zhangzk Jul 15 '19

ENGLEWOOD Tytus Howard Jersey , Colo. (AP) —  Vic Fangio about the Denver Broncos‘ head coaching vacancy Monday, a day after Chicago’s 16-15 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC wild-card playoffs.At 60, Fangio is the oldest of the five candidates on Elway’s short list as he searches for his fourth head coach in six years. Fangio was also expected to interview for Miami’s head coaching vacancy, but the Dolphins didn’t schedule an interview with him.Elway, who fired Vance Joseph a week ago, also interviewed former Colts coach Chuck Pagano and Steelers O-line coach Mike Munchak , who are both 58, Patriots defensive play-caller Brian Flores , 37, and Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor , 35.Unlike Munchak and Pagano, Fangio has no NFL head coaching experience Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , although he has been an assistant for 32 seasons in the NFL and 34 overall, beginning with the Philadelphia Stars of the old USFL in 1984.He has 19 years of coordinating experience for the Panthers, Colts, Texans, 49ers and Bears. He’s built dominant defenses in different eras, successfully adapting to changes in personnel, philosophies and style. The 2018 season was his best as Chicago used a mix of youth and experience to lead the league in total defense and allow an NFL-low 17.7 points per game.Elway said last week he values experience but also recognizes he needs to modernize the Broncos’ offensive and defensive schemes to keep up with the run-pass option craze that has swept through the NFL and rendered traditional systems antiquated.Elway also said personnel assistant and former Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak will move back into an offensive assistant coaching role in 2019, although he didn’t specify if that would necessarily be as Denver’s offensive coordinator.Kubiak stepped aside over health concerns two years ago after going 24-11 in two seasons, including 15-4 in 2015 when the Broncos won the Super Bowl in Peyton Manning’s final game of his career.Since then, the Broncos have won just 11 of 32 games, in large part because of a quarterback carousel that has included four starters in Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler Ugo Amadi Jersey , Paxton Lynch and Case Keenum, plus flameouts Mark Sanchez and Chad Kelly.If cornerback Bradley Roby and linebacker Shane Ray leave via free agency this spring, as expected, Elway’s only remaining No. 1 draft picks on the roster will be pass rushers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb, the No. 5 overall pick a year ago, and left tackle Garett Bolles, who has been penalized an NFL-high 21 times for holding in his two NFL seasons.Elway said in addition to looking for yet another coach, he’s evaluating the mistakes he’s made in building his roster.The Broncos are coming off back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1971-72, a hard fall for a franchise that was hoisting the Lombardi Trophy just three years ago thanks to Miller’s MVP performance in Super Bowl 50.Fangio is available sooner than expected following the Bears’ bow-out Sunday night when Eagles defensive lineman Treyvon Hester got his fingertips on kicker Cody Parkey’s last-second double-doink field-goal attempt in the final seconds.Fangio guided a defense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL and led the Bears into the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Four Chicago defenders were selected to the Pro Bowl: pass rusher Khalil Mack, safety Eddie Jackson, lineman Akiem Hicks and cornerback Kyle Fuller.Last month Miller suggested the Bears’ defense could lead Chicago to the Super Bowl title much as Denver’s defense led the way three years ago even in an age of potent offenses capitalizing on ever friendlier rules to run up scores.“The Bears have been doing it right. They get takeaways, they play tight coverage and they got a great run defense Devin White Jersey ,” Miller said. “I feel like the Bears definitely got a defense that can go all the way.”Instead, it could be their defensive coordinator joining Miller in Denver. ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — From the moment Jon Gruden was brought back for a second stint as coach of the Oakland Raiders with a 10-year contract, general manager Reggie McKenzie’s longevity in the position was in serious doubt.That only eroded more with each departure of one of McKenzie’s prized former draft picks and ended when he was fired Monday, less than two years after he was named the NFL’s executive of the year.With the Raiders unable to build off that breakthrough 12-win season in 2016 and McKenzie’s recent drafts failing to generate many impact players, the move to cut ties with McKenzie was made after Oakland beat Pittsburgh 24-21 for its third win of the season.McKenzie’s influence with the Raiders had waned ever since the triumphant news conference to welcome Gruden back to Oakland in January. Gruden got rid of several of the players McKenzie had acquired, most notably edge rusher Khalil Mack and receiver Amari Cooper.“I’m not going to sit up here today and talk about any disconnect,” Gruden said. “We were connected. We were very good friends and very connected. I’ll leave it at that.”Gruden said owner Mark Davis informed McKenzie of the move and the Raiders only issued a brief statement thanking McKenzie for his time in Oakland and wishing him well.“We won a game last night and I went home,” Gruden said. “Obviously, there was a meeting last night and changes have been made. I respect everything that this organization is about. I can’t exactly answer why the change was made last night, but changes were made, and we got to continue to fight and continue to build this team back and that’s what we are going to do.”Director of college scouting Shawn Herock will handle the GM duties during the search process.McKenzie was the first major hire made by Davis after he took over the team following the death of his father L.J. Collier Jersey , Al, in 2011. McKenzie modernized the franchise, got the team out of salary cap purgatory, and built a roster that went 12-4 under coach Jack Del Rio in 2016, earning him honors as the league’s top executive.But the Raiders slumped to a 6-10 record last season, leading Davis to fire Del Rio and get Gruden to take the hefty contract after years of courting.Gruden set out to overhaul the roster, trading away and cutting many of McKenzie’s former draft picks. That accelerated a week before the start of the season when Mack was dealt to Chicago for a package including two first-round picks and then Cooper was dealt in October to Dallas for another first-round pick.With those deals, only nine players drafted by McKenzie from 2012 to 2017 remain on the active roster.Despite all that, McKenzie downplayed any rift in the relationship that dated back to the 1990s when both worked together in Green Bay.“Gruden and I, we work together very well,” McKenzie said after the Cooper trade. “Let’s get no mistakes about him pushing me out. That’s not happening. Me not being able to work with Gruden? That’s furthest from the truth. OK?”The highlight of McKenzie’s tenure came in the 2014 draft, when he put together the nucleus of Oakland’s only playoff team since going to the Super Bowl following the 2002 campaign.He drafted Mack fourth overall and watched him develop into the 2016 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Johnathan Abram Jersey , got quarterback Derek Carr in the second round to end the more than decade-long revolving door at the position, and added several other key players, including guard Gabe Jackson and defensive tackle Justin Ellis later in the draft.Those players, teamed with an offensive line fortified by free agent signings center Rodney Hudson, guard Kelechi Osemele and tackle Donald Penn, made the Raiders a contender in 2016 before Carr broke his leg in a Week 16 win over Indianapolis. Oakland lost the division the following week and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs against Houston.Carr was given a $125 million, five-year extension the following summer but the team regressed and the inability to get a long-term deal done with Mack led to a holdout this past summer and his eventual trade.The Raiders have struggled in Gruden’s first year back on the sideline since being fired by Tampa Bay following the 2008 season. Oakland started the season 1-8 before winning two of the past four games. The Raiders (3-10) are tied with San Francisco and Arizona for the worst record in the league.With a likely top 10 pick of their own and two other first-rounders this year, along with two first-round picks next year, Gruden likely wanted his own people in place in the personnel department to make those moves.“When you’re 3-10, I’m not surprised with anything that happens in this league,” Gruden said. “I’ve been fired. I’ve been traded. It’s a horrible part of this business and I’m very sensitive to it.”

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