Vance Joseph is back where head coach job ended to try to earn a second
Vance Joseph is standing on the edge of a practice field just below where his office used to be.
An orange long sleeve shirt with the Broncos logo emblazoned on the chest belies the scorching August temperature.
It could easily belie Josephâs winding path from that former office to this training camp, too, had the first fork in the road not played out so publicly here.
When Joseph moments earlier talked about linebacker Josey Jewell and safety Justin Simmons, he did so as the re-familiarizing defensive coordinator rather than the longtime head coach.
Much of that duo’s development has happened since Joseph packed his belongings from the Broncos training facility at the end of the 2018 season and left town after getting fired from his first head coaching job.
A fair amount of Joseph’s has, too.
Joseph, of course, spent the past four seasons coordinating Arizonaâs defense. He did solid work there overall, though the Cardinals had just one winning season and went 28-37 under head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Now Joseph, 50, is back in Denver not to make amends for a failed first run as head coach, but to try to make his case for a second. Perhaps ironically, Joseph sees all of the ingredients right here, lined up to make that happen: a talented defense, a familiar environment and a head coach in Sean Payton who might just end up being something of a graduate school professor.
âIâve enjoyed listening to him change the culture,â Joseph told The Post. âAs a young coach, sometimes youâre not sure if youâre doing the right things until they work or until you see somebody else do it. Watching him is kind of confirmation on what I thought it should look like and also some things I missed. So Iâm learning every day from Coach and I can humbly say I didnât know it all as a young head coach.â
Joseph has talked a handful of times with reporters since Payton hired him in February, and virtually every time this comes up in some way. Joseph doesnât run from his 11-21 mark with the Broncos. He said last December when the Cardinals came to Denver that he thinks he would have won more games had the Broncos had a quarterback like Russell Wilson when he was here, but he is also quick to say he doesnât want that to be an excuse.
He learned from that experience. And now heâs trying to keep learning.
âGod willing, my second chance happens and I can do it the right way and the whole way. Not just part of it,â Joseph said. âItâs a job; you donât know until you do it. But watching (Payton), watching his experiences, how he talks to the team, how he teaches football, thatâs huge for me moving forward as a candidate to be a head coach.â
Second chances are difficult enough to come by in the NFL. Theyâre even rarer for Black coaches. The NFL currently has only three Black head coaches: Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Todd Bowles in Tampa and newcomer DeMeco Ryans in Houston.
Bowles is a second-time head coach and actually made it back relatively quickly on the strength of three years coordinating the Buccaneers’ defense. That was expedited by Bruce Ariansâ decision to retire and put Bowles in charge.
Others have waited much longer. Raheem Morris, one of several who interviewed for the Broncos job last winter, was fired as a head coach in Tampa in 2011 and has been an assistant since.
â(Joseph) deserves a chance to be a head coach again,â Jacksonville defensive line coach Brentson Buckner told The Post earlier this year. âNot everybody comes out the gate and knocks it out the ballpark as a first-time head coach, you know? …Â I think Vance’s professionalism and the way he handled it, heâs never blamed anybody. He just went out and he went to work. He deserves another chance. He understands that he probably wasnât perfect his first time around, but he knows what to do.
â… Thereâs guys in this business that get second and third chances, so, hey, why not Vance?â
Josephâs answer: Someday maybe it will be, but likely not unless the Broncos have a successful run first.
âItâs ultimately about being a winner,â Joseph said. âObviously the numbers with minority head coaches have been really low and thatâs not a new story. Why? I donât know. Is it getting better? Absolutely, but I do think the owners want to hire winners. So obviously being with Sean, having a chance to win and do it right and to have a mentor like Sean, you can always interview and explain, âHereâs my progress as a head coach because Iâve been with this guy.â
âThatâs why coaching trees to me are so important. Thatâs proof to me that youâve been trained the right way to do the job. Thatâs your only chance, in my opinion, to be with a guy whoâs done it the right way, whoâs won and had success in this league and whoâs won and can show you the right way to do it.â
Joseph not only has Payton as a resource but he should have a pretty darn good defense, too. Pat Surtain II is perhaps the finest cornerback in the game. Simmons is a stalwart, and the inside linebacker duo of Jewell and Alex Singleton was a productive one in 2022. Add in an edge group that has questions but, according to Joseph, enviable depth, and he should have perhaps the most talented group heâs ever been in charge of.
Josephâs been lauded by players already for the way heâs given them ownership in terminology and in how the exact system comes together, even while he sticks to his core defensive principles.
âI feel like heâs a natural leader,â outside linebacker Jonathan Cooper said of Joseph. âPeople naturally just come to him and follow him. Heâs an expert at this game. He knows defense like the back of his hand, obviously. The way he coaches us and teaches us to get us in the spots we need to is fantastic. He communicates with us extremely well. Everything he does, we follow his lead.â
Joseph has the perspective of someone whoâs been in the big chair â and someone who wants to get back to it.
How Vance Joseph-coordinated defenses have fared
| Year | Team (Record) | PPG (rank) | YPG (rank) | Turnover % | 3rd down % (rank) | Sacks | DVOA rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Miami (10-6) | 23.8 (18) | 382 (29) | 12.9 (10) | 36.2 (4) | 33 | 20 |
| 2017 | Denver (5-11) | 23.9 (22) | 290 (3) | 8.8 (27) | 31.6 (2) | 33 | 11 |
| 2018 | Denver (6-10) | 21.8 (13) | 365 (22) | 14.1 (12) | 38.9 (17) | 44 | 6 |
| 2019 | Arizona (5-10-1) | 27.6 (28) | 402 (32) | 9.3 (24) | 46.7 (30) | 40 | 20 |
| 2020 | Arizona (8-8) | 22.9 (12) | 352 (13) | 10.5 (22) | 39.6 (12) | 48 | 10 |
| 2021 | Arizona (11-6) | 21.5 (11) | 350 (11) | 15.3 (5) | 38.2 (10) | 41 | 6 |
| 2022 | Arizona (4-13) | 26.4 (31) | 349 (21) | 10.5 (20) | 42.9 (28) | 36 | 24 |
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