Considering the Civil War currently enveloping Broncos Country, it’s clear that there are plenty of wide-ranging opinions on the Denver Broncos’ coaching staff.
Which coach do the writers from our LTB team think stood out in a positive way this year? Let’s look.
Joey Richards (@JRDrafts): Zach Strief.
Sean Payton is the obvious answer here but the Broncos offensive line coach, Zach Strief, deserves some love. Strief did a terrific job getting the most out of his players this season and making this offensive line the best the team has seen in quite some time.
Players like Quinn Meinerz, Lloyd Cushenberry, and Garrett Bolles played much better than what was anticipated and Strief deserves a ton of credit for that.
Zach Segars (@Zach_Segars): Christian Parker.
Coach Parker’s name will pop up throughout this series of articles, both implicitly and explicitly. You’ll see him mentioned explicitly in this section, but look at your most improved players, your defensive players of the year, and your most valuable players, and you’ll find his work plastered there as well.
This is also true of Strief, but Parker’s developmental projects were undrafted figures, which contrasts favorably to Strief succeeding with his third-round developmental projects.
If not for the hiring of Jim Leonhard, losing Christian Parker would’ve been extremely concerning.
My full case for Coach Parker can be found in the first half of my long form Broncos Awards article.
Mario Vetanze (@VetanzeTherapy): Christian Parker.
I’m very tempted to give this to Broncos offensive line coach Zach Strief, who in his first year as an offensive line coach (and not just an assistant) led Lloyd Cushenberry to by far his best season as a pro, rejuvenated Garett Bolles, and helped the aforementioned Quinn Meinerz ascend to be one of the best guard in the league.
That being said, Christian Parker did an amazing job with the Broncos secondary.
Yes, having guys like Justin Simmons and Patrick Surtain II made his job easier, but what Parker was able to do with the secondary outside of those two guys is nothing short of remarkable.
After losing Caden Sterns to injury and Kareem Jackson to suspensions, PJ Locke stepped in and did not miss a beat. In fact, Locke played so well that the Broncos just gave him a nice pay raise.
Couple that with the fact that Ja’Quan McMillian (an undrafted rookie in 2022) had a Pro Bowl caliber season, and it’s clear that Christian Parker is among the best defensive back coaches in the league.
He’ll be a defensive coordinator very soon.
Frankie Abbott (@FrankiesFilm): Denver’s Special Teams Militia.
I’ll let them decide how to split the award, but I’m choosing the Special Teams Militia of Mike Westhoff, Ben Kotwica and Chris Banjo.
From 2020-2022 the Broncos special teams had been an embarrassment ranking 24th, 30th, and 29th in DVOA over that three-year stretch. If this staff could’ve pushed that unit towards the low 20’s or even the late teens, that would have been an accomplishment for this staff. They improved that unit all the way up to ninth in DVOA.
They coached up a Pro Bowl rookie returner in Marvin Mims. Tremon Smith and Riley Moss were demons on the outside on punt team, and Jacob Bobenmoyer led all long snappers in tackles. That’s how you turn around a unit in one season.
Carter Dillon (@CarterDillon14): CHRISTIAN PARKER. CHRISTIAN PARKER. CHRISTIAN PARKER.
What this man was able to do with guys like P.J. Locke and Ja’Quan McMillian this year was, without a doubt, enough to earn this award. He turned starters from last year, like K’waun Williams and Kareem Jackson, into guys who could easily be let go this offseason. Not to mention he is gaining DC interviews and his stock is going straight up.
Robby Davis (@Robby_NFL): Christian Parker.
He was tasked with teaching VJ the subtleties of this defense along with the players themselves. The development of guys like Locke, Surtain and MacMillan has been great as well.
Jason Bishop (@JasonBishopBI): Zach Strief.
When Payton signed on, he slowly hired every coach on his staff except for Strief, who he brought to Denver from New Orleans his first day on the job.
The result? Strief coached arguably the best unit on the team.
The Broncos’ offensive line finished in the top ten in PFF’s offensive line rankings, eighth in ESPN’s pass block win rate and third in ESPN’s run block win rate. Strief coached a unit featuring Meinerz who became one of the premier guards in the league in his third season, saw Cushenberry make the biggest improvement of anybody on the team, and helped Bolles bounce back from his season ending injury in 2022.
Patrick Chiotti (@PatrickChiotti): Sean Payton.
This might be a controversial take.
Payton takes this one for his ability to win eight games with this roster and for starting to change the culture within the organization, which has been needed since Kubiak left the team.
We saw it in the offensive operation, as well as the obvious improvements in the offensive line play and special teams play.
Payton’s coaching style and approach might rub some people the wrong way, but his style of coaching has produced results just about everywhere he’s been. There’s a reason he is widely considered to be one of the best coaches in this league. I’m excited to see what he can do with this team and organization this offseason.
Jacob Romano (@JTR_14): Zach Strief.
Given the fact that two offensive linemen made my season awards list, it is only right to give the Coach of the Year award to offensive line coach Zach Strief.
This is by no means a dig at Sean Payton, who did a great job making chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what this year.
However, Strief deserves credit because it only took him one year to field a top-10 unit in the Broncos’ offensive line. Several players enjoyed breakout years under Strief, with Garrett Bolles, Quinn Meinerz, and Lloyd Cushenberry all showing immense improvement compared to their 2022 seasons. Free agent signings Ben Powers and Mike McGlinchey were arguably the fourth and fifth-best linemen on the Broncos, which is a huge testament to Strief’s ability to develop talent.
Winner: Christian Parker (4 votes)
Honorable Mentions: Zach Strief (3 votes), Denver’s Special Teams Militia and Sean Payton (1 vote each)
