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Jeff Legwold
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was 38 years old and searching for his next NFL coaching job in 2011 when then-Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak hired him to join the staff. Joseph had just completed six years as defensive backs coach with the San Francisco 49ers and signed on to the same role with the Texans.
He coached in Houston for the next three seasons, and Kubiak — who spent more than two decades with the Broncos as a player, assistant coach and head coach — has kept an eye on his work since Joseph left in 2014 for the first of three D-coordinator jobs. Joseph’s résumé includes coordinator gigs with the Miami Dolphins and the Arizona Cardinals, a rocky two-year stint as Broncos head coach in 2017 and 2018, and his improbable return to Denver in 2023 to direct one of the league’s best defenses.
«You got to get battle-tested in this business to be successful, you’ve got to be where the s— hits the fan, where you get your butt kicked and you get knocked down,» Kubiak said. «A lot of guys go do something else after that and try to get back in a few years later. … [Joseph] went right back to being a coordinator then he went right back to the Broncos.»
Now 53, Joseph directs one of the NFL’s most physical, stifling defenses and is one of the biggest names in this year’s head coaching carousel, with interview requests from six teams last week. Joseph has drawn raves inside the league for his shape-shifting coverages and the league’s most punishing pass rush.
No. 1 in sacks (68), best in red zone defense (surrendered touchdowns on just 42.6% of drives inside the 20) and second best on opponent third downs (33.8%). Opposing quarterbacks had the third-lowest QBR against them (49.2). That defensive dominance is a prime reason they posted a 14-3 record and earned the AFC’s top seed.
Joseph made the unconventional move to return to the franchise that unceremoniously fired him as head coach. The decision raised eyebrows around the league, but Joseph’s confidence in himself has proved well-founded, even after a bumpy ride early on. The Broncos now have their best chance to play in a Super Bowl since their championship 10 years ago and will start that quest against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC divisional playoffs on Saturday at Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS). And Joseph and his defense will play a huge part in the Broncos’ path back to the big game.
«I have a good, good job here with Coach [Sean Payton]» Joseph said. «Who wouldn’t want to coach these guys? It’s a unit of talented, tough, unselfish people. … It’s a group of guys who are self-made, guys who have grinded, who have gotten better each year. And they celebrate each other … that’s the best trait of this unit.»
JOSEPH’S TWO-YEAR tenure as Broncos head coach might have been a far more difficult proposition than he originally thought.
Kubiak had stepped away from the position following the 2016 season for health reasons after leading the Broncos to a 9-7 record, and Joseph replaced him. Denver started 3-1 in 2017, but things quickly went south. After losing six straight games, Joseph fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy the week before Thanksgiving. It didn’t help, as the Broncos ended 5-11, a record that included a franchise-worst eight-game losing streak.
There was little improvement in 2018, as the Broncos struggled to find a quarterback to stabilize their offense. They finished 6-10, and Joseph was subsequently fired.
«I’ve always said, and I believe it, it’s a league of winning,» Joseph said. «I can think about things and factors, but we didn’t win. I thought we had fixed some things and had improved some things and were headed the right way, but we didn’t win. I worked my butt off and it didn’t work. I never thought it was personal. I was upset, not angry.»
Joseph didn’t take time off to grieve. He became Arizona’s defensive coordinator 11 days after the Broncos let him go. He spent four seasons with the Cardinals, until Payton called shortly after being hired as the Broncos’ coach in February 2023.
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Payton said he had seen and respected Joseph’s work while doing film study during his tenure as the New Orleans Saints’ head coach. But it was a conversation Payton had with Joseph in the days before a Cardinals-Baltimore Ravens preseason game in 2022, when Payton worked as an analyst for Fox, that really got his attention.
He was impressed by Joseph’s preparation for that contest as well as Joseph’s experience and «calmness.» So, Joseph was one of Payton’s first calls and hires after taking the Denver job, bringing him back to the franchise that had told him to pack his bags five years earlier.
«I wasn’t afraid of it,» Joseph said. «I want to prove I could get this done. It’s not common, maybe, but it was a no-brainer.»
Joseph had a template for his move. One of his coaching mentors is Wade Phillips, who was the Texans’ defensive coordinator when Kubiak hired Joseph in Houston. Phillips, who was fired as the Broncos’ head coach after the 1994 season, returned years later to be Kubiak’s defensive coordinator for the Super Bowl 50 champion Broncos. Phillips told Joseph to «follow my path.»
«When you coach in this league, you’re going to have your chances to get rattled, you’re going to have your ups and downs, and the guys who can handle the fact that bad things are going to happen, that’s who you’re looking for,» Kubiak said. «The guys who are calm when things are good and keep pushing, and calm when things are not good who work to get them right. That’s Wade, and that’s Vance.»
But Joseph’s return didn’t begin nearly as well as he or Payton had hoped. The third game of the 2023 season was a disastrous 70-20 loss to the Dolphins, with 10 touchdowns and 350 rushing yards allowed. That defeat prompted a swirl of criticism around Payton’s decision to bring Joseph back.
But many Broncos said Joseph’s steadfast belief in the wake of that performance and his demand for improvement were key to a five-game win streak later that season. The Broncos surrendered 16 points per game during those victories, tied for second fewest in the NFL over that span.
That run provided a snapshot of what was to come, as the Broncos set then reset the franchise’s single-season sack record over the past two campaigns. But Joseph has never hidden from the meltdown in South Florida, saying he has watched it «at least 10 times» to glean every possible lesson from it.
«I think Sean could see how Vance teaches, how he connects with players. Sean is strong in his beliefs; he stayed the course when a lot of people might have been pushed to make a quick move,» Kubiak said. «The highest compliment you can pay a coach is how hard his players play and look what’s happened since.
«When you watch them guys play, they bust their ass to the ball, they bust their ass for each other, they bust their ass for Vance down in and down out. It’s a testament to him.»
SAFETY TALANOA HUFANGA is in his first season with the Broncos after signing a three-year, $39 million deal in March. He spent four years on the 49ers, with San Francisco playing in three postseasons and reaching Super Bowl LVIII in the 2023 campaign. He has seen how Joseph works through the week, dials up calls on game day and narrows down what the group has done to a simple-to-say, hard-to-achieve idea.
«I trust in what V.J. does,» Hufanga said. «The plan, how we adjust, all of it. Whatever he asks me to do, I’ll do, and I think all of us in here feel that way.»
Along with rewriting the team sack record, the Broncos are third in scoring defense (18.3 points allowed per game), sixth in defensive expected points added and the best of all playoff teams in pass rush win rate (44.5%). That has helped fuel Denver to an 11-2 record in one-score games this season.
Broncos defensive tackle Zach Allen, cornerback Pat Surtain II, edge rusher Nik Bonitto and linebacker Alex Singleton have said Joseph’s coverage schemes — combined with deceptive and aggressive rush packages — have not been appreciated enough for their creativity.
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«He just dials it up,» Bonitto said. «I think sometimes people act like we’re just flying around, and we do fly around. But V.J. puts us in those spots, we rush smart, our cover guys give tough looks. I think we’re really hard to play.»
One of the main facets of Joseph’s defense is confusing the quarterback. While the Broncos lead the league in man coverage (60.8%), the coordinator’s ability to mess with quarterbacks’ pre-snap reads by disguising man-to-man looks has brought praise from around the NFL. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Joseph is a «hell of a coach» after the Broncos beat Dallas handily in Week 8.
Broncos players have given Joseph credit for their development.
Allen said he is «forever grateful to Vance» after developing into a second-team All-Pro selection in 2024 then moving up to first-team All-Pro this season en route to his first Pro Bowl. Bonitto registered 1.5 sacks as a rookie in 2022 prior to Joseph’s arrival, but he has set career highs in each season under Joseph (eight sacks in 2023, 13.5 in 2024 and 14 this season).
Edge rusher Jonathon Cooper has 27 combined sacks in three seasons under Joseph after tallying 4.5 across his first two NFL seasons, while Singleton has led the Broncos in tackles in two of his three seasons. (Singleton played only three games in 2024 due to injury). Surtain was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2024.
«The buy-in on all of it, it’s real,» Surtain said. «We’re in the best positions to make plays to do what we do best. If you’re in this defense, you’re going to jell to his standard, and his standard is, ‘Be the best.'»
AS DENVER ATTEMPTS to return to the Super Bowl, eight NFL teams are looking for new head coaches. Joseph’s name is often mentioned as a prime candidate in a lot of those spots. When asked if Joseph is ready for another NFL head coaching stint, Kubiak doesn’t even wait for the question mark at the end of the sentence.
«Of course, I think he’s ready. Of course, I think he’s going to do great things,» Kubiak said. «Give me a guy who has been through it, kept working, kept getting better and I’ll say it again. Look how his guys play for him. As a coach, there’s nothing better than a group of guys that play for you like that.»
Payton agreed last week, saying, «I think having had that opportunity, and now come back full circle, he’s going to be successful. … I think it’s not a matter of if, it’s when and who. I think it’s going to happen, and I know when that time comes, there’ll be 110 people on the other side of those doors [at the Broncos’ complex] super excited for him.»
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Just last year, Joseph interviewed for the Las Vegas Raiders job that eventually went to Pete Carroll. He interviewed again with them last week after Carroll was fired. The Raiders were one of six teams to contact Joseph (along with the Cardinals, the Ravens, the Tennessee Titans, the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons) and one of five to interview him last week. (The Falcons have yet to set up a formal interview.) Joseph said he would welcome the chance to be a head coach again but that he — like his players — would feel significant disappointment if he didn’t first handle the job at hand.
Payton said he has told Joseph to be particular about choosing a head coaching job and that the team infrastructure should be strong enough «to give you a chance.» Joseph has privately told others he «won’t go just to go, that it has to be right,» wanting to avoid a situation like he encountered in his Denver head coaching stint.
«The key always is to win and not worry about the process,» Joseph said in recent weeks. «It takes care of itself. It’s the Broncos’ season right now; that’s my focus, honestly. If it happens, I’ll be happy. If it doesn’t, I have a good job. I have good players. I’m in a great city. So, I have no worries.»
Payton has dangled the Super Bowl in front of his team since the summer. That type of opportunity is exactly why Joseph decided to return to Denver nearly three years ago.
«If you’re going to be dominant [in the NFL], it has to be every down, every drive, every quarter, right to the end of the biggest games, to the last game played,» Joseph said. «It’s the kind of opportunity anybody would want and appreciate. It’s why you do this.»
