Getting to know a Denver Broncos coaching candidate: Jonathan Gannon

SIXTH IN A SERIES

Not even two months into his first regular season as an NFL coordinator, Jonathan Gannon had a thorny situation on his hands.

The highest-paid player on the Philadelphia Eagles defense and long-time mandarin of the unit, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, didn’t like how he was being used — and didn’t like what the Eagles were doing.

A 33-22 loss at Las Vegas on Oct. 24 of last year brought these concerns to the surface. Philadelphia had allowed an average of 32.4 points per game in its pervious five weeks.

Cox — who had a streak of six consecutive Pro Bowl appearances snapped this season — fumed.

“It’s honestly not what it’s been,” Cox said in a post-game press conference on Oct. 24, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Just gotta play what’s being called. When you’re so used to playing so aggressive the last however many years I’ve been playing, it’s just change. You can’t be as aggressive. You gotta play what’s being called.

What was being called by Gannon, hired by first-year head coach Nick Sirianni eight months earlier, wasn’t to his liking.

“I’m an aggressive player and that’s how I make my living, playing in the backfield and splitting double-teams and not used to double-teams staying on me 2, 3 yards down the field. That’s just frustration.”

To that point, Cox had a single sack, just one tackle for loss, three quarterback hits and just three QB hurries in seven games, per the data compiled by SportRadar.com. In the nine games that followed, Cox had 2.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, nine QB hits and eight QB hurries.

Cox was his old self.

And that happened because Gannon listened and changed.

“He’s got good points,” Gannon said at a press conference in the days after Cox made his frustrations public.

“I think it comes from he’s an unselfish player that has a lot of passion for winning and losing,” Gannon added that day. “Our entire defense is frustrated that we’re 2-5 right now because we know we’re not playing well enough.

“So, talk to Fletch about, ‘Hey, what’s your viewpoint of how we can play a little bit better on defense?’ And do that with really all of our guys on all three levels from a standpoint of, ‘Hey, here’s the game plan. Here’s what we’re thinking. Here’s what we need to get done. Hey, we’re 2-5, guys. What’s going on? Hey, I can do this better. You guys can do this better. Coaches can do this better.’

“What any player says after a game out of frustration comes from a good place of, ‘We want to win.’ That’s what this game is about, winning and losing. And that’s where I think that comes from, from Fletch. So, I love that about him.”

He loved the results from Cox — and from the entire defense. The Eagles went from allowing 26.4 points per game in their first seven contests — including the afore-mentioned 32.4-point average in Weeks 3-7 — to just 16.6 points in the nine games that followed, before conceding 51 on Jan. 8 to Dallas in a game that saw the Eagles rest many of their key players.

Broncos general manager George Paton worked with Gannon in Minnesota from 2014-17, when Gannon was the Vikings’ assistant defensive-backs coach. So, Paton knows what Gannon was like on a day-to-day basis then.

But this year also showed something Paton wants to see from his next coach: leadership. This manifests itself in different ways, but one key aspect is a willingness to listen to players.

Former Broncos linebacker Todd Davis noted this week that this was a shortcoming of Fangio. It is part of the reason why Paton and his brain trust are hopscotching the country searching for the Broncos’ next coach.

Gannon’s experience in 2021, his only year as an NFL defensive coordinator, shows that he would be different.

“I really believe in Jonathan Gannon, the type of coach he is and the type of person he is. If I didn’t, there would be no way he’d be in this building,” Sirianni said at a press conference this week.

“I have so much confidence in him and so much faith in him, and I believe in him in the job that he can do as a football coach. I think he’d be a great head football coach in the NFL.

“I just think he has all the intangibles, all the qualities that I think you need to be a good head football coach. Jonathan has those things. Anything I can do to help him get ready, I will do because he deserves an opportunity.

“Obviously, I would never want to lose Coach Gannon, but I think he’s more than ready to be a head football coach and he has all the qualities that you need.”

Including the ability to listen, adapt and change. These could be the most vital attributes of all.