Getty Vance Joseph walking off the field with Wade Phillips.
As Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton continues to search for a defensive coordinator, he appears to be interested in a familiar face for Broncos Country.
According to Mike Klis of 9News, the Broncos have requested permission to interview former Broncos head coach and current Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
The Cardinals hired former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as their head coach and it’s pretty clear that he’ll be taking control of Arizona’s defense.
It’s unclear if the Cardinals will grant the Broncos permission to speak with Joseph because it’s a lateral move, but there’s a real chance that Joseph is relieved of his contract and available to speak with other teams. The Broncos did the same thing with last season’s defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.
Joseph has been calling plays for the Cardinals since 2019, but his defenses have never ranked in the top-10 of scoring defenses. This past season, Arizona ranked 31st in scoring defense by giving up 26.4 points per game.
Joseph’s Time as Head Coach of the Broncos
The Broncos hired Joseph in 2017 after Super Bowl winning head coach Gary Kubiak told the team that he was stepping down as head coach before the final game of the 2016 season.
With candidates available like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, the Broncos decided to go with Joseph who called plays for the first time with the Miami Dolphins in 2016.
Before the Broncos hired Wade Phillips to be the defensive coordinator in 2015, Denver tried to hire Joseph as their defensive coordinator, but the Cincinnati Bengals blocked Denver’s request even though he was their defensive backs coach.
After going 5-11 during his first season, there was a real chance that the Broncos were going to move on from the first-time head coach, but former general manager John Elway told the media that he needed to “sleep on it” before making his final decision.
After waking up the next day, Elway decided to keep Joseph for another year before firing him after the 2018 season with an improved 6-10 record.
In Joseph’s two seasons with the Broncos, his defenses ranked 22nd and 13th in scoring.
While the Broncos front office didn’t help Joseph much by not giving him much control of the team, Elway tossed out quarterbacks, Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch, and Case Keenum for Joseph to work with.
None of the quarterbacks had winning records in the two years under Joseph.
Other Candidates for Denver’s DC Opening
Joseph isn’t the only candidate that the Broncos are looking at to coach the defense. Denver is also looking at former NFL head coach Rex Ryan and former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator and current Seattle Seahawks defensive assistant Sean Desai.
Desai interviewed with the Vikings to be their defensive coordinator, but has withdrawn his name from consideration to focus on the Denver job.
In fact, former Broncos head coach Vic Fangio recommended Denver to Desai, per Klis.
Desai worked with Fangio from 2015-2018 as a defensive quality control coach for the Chicago Bears. Once Fangio took the job in Denver, Desai became the safeties coach and then defensive coordinator in 2021 for the Bears.
In the one year he called plays for the Bears, Desai’s defense ranked 22nd in the NFL in scoring.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, Ryan has emerged as a top candidate for the Broncos for their defensive coordinator job.
Comeback? Rex Ryan has emerged as a top candidate for the #Broncos defensive coordinator job, per me and @MikeGarafolo. Ryan has been on ESPN after being fired by the #Bills in 2016. If all goes well, he could be headed back in the NFL.
Troy Renck of Denver7 reported on his weekly radio show hit on 104.3 The Fan that Ryan’s name has not been ruled out yet.
“One name that’s gaining traction, I talked to multiple people this morning, I’m not saying this is going to happen, but they’re definitely saying to not rule it out and that’s Rex Ryan.”
Ryan hasn’t coached in the NFL since 2016 when he was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Since then, he’s been working at ESPN as an NFL analyst.