The Denver Broncos are off and running in their search for the 17th full-time head coach in franchise history.
Vic Fangio was fired Sunday morning after posting a 19-30 record in three seasons as part of five straight losing campaigns and six straight without a postseason berth for the Orange and Blue.
On Thursday, general manager George Paton and his search team kicked off the interview process and have plans to talk to 10 current NFL assistants in all. Meanwhile, several Colorado online sportsbooks have Broncos betting odds on who will become the next head coach.
- Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator
- Brian Callahan, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator
- Jonathan Gannon, Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator
- Luke Getsy, Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach
- Aaron Glenn, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator
- Nathaniel Hackett, Packers offensive coordinator
- Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots linebackers coach
- Kellen Moore, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator
- Kevin O’Connell, Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator
- Dan Quinn, Cowboys defensive coordinator
BetMGM Sportsbook Colorado and MaximBet Sportsbook Colorado have handicapped the field, posting odds on the chances of the aforementioned 10 — plus 12 others — of landing the job.
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Quinn is early BetMGM favorite
With +110 odds (subject to change), BetMGM had the Cowboys’ Quinn as the initial front-runner. The BetMGM Broncos odds were initially posted on Tuesday, but were off the board as of late Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile at MaximBet, Quinn checks at No. 2, tied with the Bengals’ Callahan at +400.
The 51-year-old Quinn, who worked with Paton with the Miami Dolphins in 2006, is in his first season as the Cowboys defensive coordinator. That follows a five-year run as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach.
Under Quinn, who rose to fame as the defensive coordinator of the 2013 Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, the Cowboys ranked No. 1 during the regular season with 34 takeaways. Dallas also ranked seventh in points allowed (21.1 per game) and 19th in total yards surrendered (351.0).
It was a marked improvement for the Dallas defense, which ranked 28th in 2020 with 29.6 points allowed per contest.
In five seasons with the Falcons, Quinn posted a 43-42 regular-season record and a 3-2 postseason mark. That playoff record included the crushing 34-28 overtime loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI in which the Falcons coughed up a 28-3 third quarter lead.
After a 10-6 season in 2017, Quinn’s Falcons posted 7-9 marks in back-to-back campaigns before he was fired after a 0-5 start in 2020.
MaximBet has Hackett with best odds
The 42-year-old Hackett is atop the MaximBet Sportsbook Broncos board with +300 odds.
He was No. 2 in the BetMGM odds at +450.
Hackett has served as the Packers’ offensive coordinator for the last three seasons under head coach Matt LaFleur, and Green Bay has finished in the top 10 in points and yards in each of the last two campaigns.
The Packers lost in both the 2019 and ’20 NFC Championship Games and are the conference’s No. 1 seed entering the current postseason.
Of course, having 2020 league MVP and 2021 MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers at quarterback tends to help. A quick glance at Hackett’s pre-Green Bay resume would seem to bear that out.
Hackett served as the offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills in the five seasons before landing with the Packers. But only one of those teams (the 2017 Jags) finished in the league’s top half in either scoring or total yards.
Bieniemy among the other familiar names
The Chiefs’ Bieniemy (+1,000) and Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier (+1,000) were the only other candidates among the 19 listed at BetMGM with 10-1 or better odds.
Following Quinn, Hackett and Callahan on the MaximBet board are the Patriots’ Mayo (+500), the Rams’ O’Connell (+600) and the Packers’ Getsy (+800). Bieniemy is next at +1,000.
A name very familiar in the Centennial State after his standout career as a running back at the University of Colorado, Bieniemy has spent the last nine seasons working under head coach Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs. During the last four seasons, he’s served as KC’s offensive coordinator.
Other names of note on the BetMGM Broncos odds list are former Eagles head coach Doug Pederson (+1,100), just-fired Dolphins head coach Brian Flores (+2,000), University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh (+2,000) and just-axed Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer (+5,000).
Zimmer spent the 2014-20 seasons with the Vikings, working with Paton, the team’s assistant GM and vice president of player personnel.
MaximBet also includes some very familiar names — albeit decided longshots — on its board. Those include current San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan (+1,500), his father Mike Shanahan (+3,000) — who coached Denver from 1995-2008 — and ex-Broncos QB Peyton Manning (+5,000).
