Broncos continue coaching maneuvers

Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, January 13, 2007

With coaches interviewing all around the league in recent days, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan continued to move quickly to fill his available slots.

Having already secured Jim Bates as defensive coordinator this week, Shanahan continued over the weekend to zero in on former Atlanta Falcons defensive line coach Bill Johnson, according to two league sources.

The Broncos and Johnson have agreed in principle and Johnson could be formally announced as soon as Monday as a new Broncos defensive line coach.

Neither Shanahan nor Johnson could be reached for comment Saturday.

Johnson will replace Andre Patterson, who was fired earlier this week, and split duties with long-time Broncos assistant Jacob Burney in the team's defensive front. The Broncos are looking for more production up front in a defense that finished with just 35 sacks this past season.

The 51-year-old Johnson was a long-time college assistant, including stops at Miami (1987), Arkansas (1990-91, 2000) and Texas A&M (1992-99). He had been with the Falcons since 2001.

Falcons defense end Patrick Kerney, who will be an unrestricted free agent in March, has said publicly the Falcons retaining Johnson would be one of the factors he would consider before re-signing in Atlanta.

The Broncos hiring Johnson could give them a chance in free agency at Kerney at what is a need position for the team.

The Broncos are also believed to still be pursuing Pete Rodriguez to join the staff as well.

Rodriguez is one of the most respected special teams coaches in the league and at the moment he's available for the right offer. The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Rodriguez and four other assistants earlier this month when Jack Del Rio re-shuffled his staff in the wake of the team's playoff miss.

However, Rodriguez still has a year remaining on his contract with the Jaguars, and said Thursday he wouldn't be in a hurry to take anything but the right offer.

Rodriguez and Shanahan are long-time friends. Rodriguez was a Los Angeles Raiders assistant in 1988-89, hired by Shanahan when he was the Oakland's head coach. Special teams were a trouble spot for the Broncos this season. Denver was 31st in the league in average drive start after kickoffs, did not have a returner among the AFC's top 12 in punt returns and did not have a returner in the AFC's top 17 on kickoffs.

"I'm going to look at everything,'' Rodriguez said. "I'm just enjoying my time right now.''

Rodriguez, a former Denver Gold assistant and graduate of Western State in Gunnison, has coached five Pro Bowl punters in his career and was named special teams of the decade in the 90s by the Dallas Morning News, which conducts an annual special teams report each season.

The Broncos hired Bates this past week as assistant head coach/defense while Bob Slowik, who is the Broncos secondary coach, was also promoted to defensive coordinator. Slowik and Bates will participate in the game-planning during the week, but Bates is expected to call the plays on gameday.

The Broncos had a similar arrangement on offense this past season with Mike Heimerdinger as assistant head coach and Rick Dennison as offensive coordinator. Heimerdinger coordinated the team's passing game, Dennison the running game with Shanahan calling the bulk of the plays on gameday.

The re-shuffling of the defensive staff came in the wake of the 9-7 finish that did not get the Broncos into the postseason.

The Broncos led the league in scoring defense after six games in '06 and at that point in the year the team was 5-1 and had surrendered just 272 yards per game. However, by the end of the season they had fallen to 14th in total defense, allowing 326.4 yards per game including 359.2 yards per game over the last 10.

The Broncos also surrendered leads of at least eight points in home losses to Indianapolis, San Diego, Seattle and San Francisco over their last five games at Invesco Field at Mile High.