Wade Phillips Watch: Vance Joseph Named Denver Broncos Head Coach
It appears that Wade Phillips may end up being a free agent on the coaching market. The Denver Broncos hired Vance Joseph as their head coach on Wednesday.
In a move that had been anticipated since the retirement of Gary Kubiak, the Denver Broncos selected their next head coach. The team opted to hire the current defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins, Vance Joseph, to replace the departed Kubiak. The news broke via the Twitter account of the Broncos general manager, John Elway.
It's official.
— John Elway (@johnelway) January 11, 2017
Excited to announce Vance Joseph as head coach of the Denver Broncos! pic.twitter.com/m87uUn9KXs
Joseph has long been one of the better defensive assistants in the NFL. That said, he does not have a lot of experience working as a coordinator. In fact, last season with the Dolphins was the first time he had served as a defensive coordinator. In the previous 10 years he spent in the league, he had only served as a defensive backs coach. Notably, he worked for the 49ers from 2005 to 2010, and he was able to develop some great, young defensive backs. That ended up being the case wherever he went.
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Joseph’s hiring has raised some questions about who he will retain on his staff. After all, the Broncos already had Wade Phillips at the defensive coordinator position, but would he fit in Joseph’s staff? Apparently, the answer is no. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Joseph will be bringing on Joe Woods to serve as his defensive coordinator.
Dominoes… LBs coach Matt Burke becomes #Dolphins DC. Joe Woods likely becomes #Broncos DC. Mike McCoy a strong candidate for DEN OC.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2017
Obviously, nothing has been confirmed, but it certainly looks like Phillips could end up being a free agent. He could end up being the top target on the Washington Redskins list of candidates.
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Frankly, Phillips offers the best pedigree of the available candidates. Over the course of the past five seasons, Phillips has seen a lot of success as the defensive coordinator in Houston and Denver. In each season, he has had a defense that ranks in the top seven in total yards allowed, while possessing a top 10 scoring defense in all but one season.
Phillips utilizes a 3-4 defense, and that scheme really helped his 2015 Broncos squad to win the Super Bowl. The Redskins use a similar attack, and there is a good chance that Phillips would be able to turn around their unit around. He could help develop their younger personnel, while instilling a discipline that the team lacked in 2016.
Hopefully the Redskins will realize that they need to target Phillips. He was one of the top candidates for the team when they elected to hire Joe Barry, so one would imagine that Phillips would still have an interest in the job. It also helps that Phillips’ son, Wes, is the Redskins tight ends coach, so that could entire the elder Phillips to come to Washington to help the team out.
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No matter what happens, the Vance Joseph hire was good news for the Redskins. Another great defensive coordinator has been put on the market as a result, and the team could take advantage of that.