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<\/p>\nSean Payton is plenty familiar with Vic Fangio. Heck, he knows who taught Fangio math in sixth grade.<\/p>\n
But an offensive game-planner can never have too much information about his next adversary.<\/p>\n
Payton, as it happens, now works in a place with a wealth of Fangio familiarity. After all, Miami\u2019s defensive coordinator coached many of the current Broncos defenders and players up through the 2021 season during his nearly three years as Denver\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just talking to (veteran safety Kareem Jackson) earlier,\u201d Payton said Wednesday. \u201cRight as I was walking out to practice, I had a question about some red zone stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secondary coach Christian Parker is the only full-time defensive coach remaining from the Fangio era, but Payton said, still, \u201cwe had a number of discussions last night where I\u2019d walk down the hallway, \u2018What do you think?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The veteran coach\u2019s respect for Fangio is clear. They\u2019ve never worked together, but Fangio\u2019s from Scranton, Pennsylvania, as are Payton\u2019s parents. Back in February, Payton told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine that his cousin taught Fangio when he was in middle school.<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t all Payton said about Fangio that day.<\/p>\n
After assembling his staff and hiring defensive coordinator Vance Joseph in February, Payton readily acknowledged he tried to convince Fangio to come back to Denver before interviewing Rex Ryan, Joseph and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cVic was supposed to be part of the plan and then you guys (media) scared him away,\u201d he said then, after he and Fangio each spent 2022 out of full-time coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I think he would have been a great asset for us? Yes,” Payton continued. “So we were planning in this year away that if the right scenario came up, that we’d work together. I think (Denver) was just a little unique because it wasn’t too long ago that he was here. Certainly, I tried to talk to him and tried to twist his arm. I’m excited for his opportunity in Miami. I think he’s a talented coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back then, Payton said he joked with Fangio that half the league was running variations of his defense. The Broncos, of course, had the real thing before transitioning to Ejiro Evero in 2022 and Joseph this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always done a great job of keeping the roof on the coverage and you\u2019ve got to sustain drives,\u201d Payton said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to find big plays based on the structure of his defense. It\u2019s easy to say they\u2019re very sound \u2014 most defenses are \u2014 but, man, the technique they play with and they\u2019re well coached. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s certainly familiarity to what he does and he\u2019s got the spinoff of other coaches, now, running very similar systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, who faced Fangio several times during Fangio’s years in San Francisco (2011-14) and Chicago (2015-18), called him, “a tremendous defensive coordinator. He knows how to coach the guys up. He’s one of those coaches that’s (among) the all-time greats, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fangio\u2019s not the only familiar face Denver will see Sunday. He\u2019ll be deploying outside linebacker Bradley Chubb, who the Broncos traded for a first-round pick at last year\u2019s trade deadline. Chubb almost immediately signed a five-year extension worth up to $110 million ($63 million guaranteed). Then in the offseason Denver traded that pick to New Orleans for the right to hire Payton.<\/p>\n
\u201cChubb\u2019s awesome,\u201d inside linebacker Alex Singleton said Monday. \u201cThe short extent I was with him last year, loved him. He\u2019s a great guy, was a great leader around here. Excited to see him on Sunday and obviously super happy for him with the contract he got and all of that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s head coach Mike McDaniel, the Aurora native who got his start in coaching with an internship under Mike Shanahan when he was in his early 20s. He said Wednesday the Broncos were, \u201cthe team that I found my love for football with.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some people with ties to the Broncos organization for sure, but one of the great things about this team and the people in that locker room is they would feel enormously guilty if they approached it with anything other than the team\u2019s best interest,\u201d McDaniel said. \u201cThinking about last year, or where you\u2019re drafted \u2014 I\u2019m sure there are memories and stuff and I will never speak for them \u2014 but the one thing that I can tell by actions is that their primary focus is the Miami Dolphins and not their score to settle or whatever may be created in the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not really going on in-house.\u201d<\/p>\n