Coaching Carousel 2017: Which NFL Coaching Jobs Are Most Attractive?

Denver Broncos

2016 Offensive Net Expected Points (NEP) per play: 25th
2016 Defensive NEP per play: 1st

This should be obvious, but the best position available is the one that no one is being forced from. Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak is retiring from the NFL due to health complications, leaving behind a roster mostly intact from a string of playoff appearances and one Super Bowl title.

The vaunted Denver defense ranks first in the NFL by numberFire’s schedule-adjusted Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) per play metric, one of just two teams allowing negative NEP to their opposition. This is primarily due to a secondary producing -0.16 more Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play than the next-best unit. Why we call the Seattle Seahawks’ dominant defense the “Legion of Boom”, but don’t refer to Broncos’ ridiculously impressive defenders Von Miller, Brandon Marshall, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, Bradley Roby, and T.J. Ward as the “Sinister Six”, I will never know.

The big concern here is the offense. After 2013 and 2014 saw the Broncos post the 6th- and 22nd-best (respectively) offensive seasons ever since 2000 (the start of our database), per Adjusted NEP per play, they haven’t even been 22nd-best in each of the last two seasons. Trevor Siemian has been admirable, but he probably isn’t the long-term answer at quarterback, and first-round rookie Paxton Lynch needs to prove he is. That said, considering how ineffective the quarterback play was, wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders provide good building blocks for this offense to rely on.

Likely Candidates: All we really know is that general manager John Elway isn’t considering anyone currently on the staff, but the Broncos have requested to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.