Broncos Film Room: What Vic Fangio’s footprint means for the roster moving forward

With the hire of their 17th head coach in franchise history, the Denver Broncos have decided to turn the page and go against the grain with veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio as their new leader.

Beyond his scheme, we take a look at how the Chicago Bears’ former defensive coordinator will impact the Broncos roster and offseason plans on both sides of the ball.

Mob deep

As we illustrated in our in-depth schematic breakdown of Fangio’s defense, the former linebackers coach asks a lot out of his second level defenders.

One thing he requires is for all his backers to cover, yes, even his outside linebackers. So this narrative that Fangio is the man to finally unleash Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on quarterbacks, rather than dropping them in coverage as often as the past regime did, is misinformed.

The 60-year old coach has always had one bigger rush linebacker and another lighter one who can be dropped in coverage, typically his strong side backer, where Miller plays in Denver—in the example below, Khalil Mack is dropped in coverage from the slot but on the weak side.

That’s not to say Denver’s new defensive play caller won’t get creative with Von and Chubb, stacking them on the same side and finding unique ways free them from blockers who won’t be able to key in on them.

Fangio also uses a heavy three-man rotation at edge rusher, with Aaron Lynch playing a key role as a rotational piece for the DC both in San Francisco and Chicago—Lynch appeared in over 350 snaps for the Bears in 2018. The former top recruit is a free agent, and if both Shaquil Barrett and Shane Ray were to leave, the Fangio lifer could be a worthwhile bargain signing.

No linebackers are asked to do more in coverage than Fangio’s inside guys. This should prompt a significant speed upgrade at the position in Denver, despite Todd Davis and Josey Jewell exceeding expectations in coverage this year. That pairing is too slow for this zone-heavy defense. At least one, if not both, will have to take a backseat to faster ILBs. In-house options like special teams’ standout Joseph Jones could be considered. Free agents such as K.J. Wright, C.J. Mosley, Jordan Hicks, and Kwon Alexander would all merit consideration. The same goes for stud prospect Devin White of LSU, the clear top linebacker in the draft.

The Broncos won’t have to spend premium cap or draft assets at the position, there are plenty of undersized and undervalued LBs who fit the profile. Matching up size wise with tight ends isn’t a requirement, being able to cover lots of ground is—as illustrated in the clip of Roquan Smith’s interception above.

We also underlined how Fangio will mix up coverages and play more zone, which means upgrades at the position are still needed but not in the form of lanky shutdown corners. There will be plenty of options both in the draft and free agency. Denver’s new head coach will simply have to identify the right guys to fit his system which maximizes ball skills, instincts, and downhill closing speed more than elite “stickiness” to match the NFL’s best receivers.

Bears slot CB, Bryce Callahan, who played close to 700 snaps last season, will be on the market and should be strongly considered.

As he’s evolved as a DC, Vic has opted to one-gap up front much more often than most front threes in an odd front will. Adam Gotsis and Shelby Harris—whose contract will have to be renewed—would fit, but more depth and interior penetrators will be needed not just against the pass but in defending the run as well. This is clear in the play below where the aforementioned Callahan makes a nice TFL in space after the DL blows up the run.

25-year old Atlanta Falcons’ defensive tackle, Grady Jarrett, who’ll be one of the prized UFAs on the interior DL, would be an intriguing option, as will a loaded draft class at the position.

Offense…anyone?

Fangio has already put his imprint on the offensive side of the ball as well, with him and Gary Kubiak not coming to an agreement after schematic, philosophical, and staffing differences. This is a great sign that the seasoned DC has learned important lessons from his time under Jim Harbaugh and Matt Nagy on how modernizing an offense is key in today’s NFL.

Finding a new coordinator is a huge task for Fangio and GM John Elway who must fix the offense. Kubiak not being in the picture has opened up the possibility for Mike Munchak and his gap-run scheme to come to Denver as the offensive line coach, which would be a huge get for the Broncos new head coach.

Munchak’s blocking scheme and Kubiak’s commitment to the zone run wouldn’t have meshed, so as one door closes another one has opened, and the Broncos ability to attract the NFL’s premier OL coach would be massive in improving the greatest offensive issue the past four years.

Back to Kubiak, as we wrote in our breakdown of Sean Mcvay’s offense when analyzing Zac Taylor’s potential scheme, there are a lot of similarities between the Rams ground-breaking attack and Kubiak’s bread and butter.

The biggest commonality is that everything starts with establishing the run in outside zone looks. In fact, Mcvay’s offense is even more standard in the personnel packages using 11-personnel the majority of the time. Mcvay throws in a few more jet sweeps but the run scheme is almost exactly the same, and the philosophy of establishing the run to set up the pass is the basis for both attacks. Though, the Rams give you more misdirection and tempo.

More importantly, McVay will change things up on third-down, Kubiak’s greatest issue as a play caller in recent history. Kubiak’s idea of mixing it up is using three-receiver sets on third down, that won’t cut it, and if he wasn’t willing to modernize, third-down efficiency would’ve been the biggest concern.

Fangio has talked about the importance of staying balanced offensively and explained what he means.

“We talked about an offensive philosophy, and I believe in balance, but balance immediately comes to your mind [as] run and pass. There are other things that need to be balanced in offensive play. Do you throw it short, intermediate or deep? Do you run in inside, outside or have deceptives? Do you run gap schemes and zone schemes? Are you play-action, movement passing game? When I say balance, I’m not necessarily talking about how many runs and how many passes. You need to have balance within your passing game and in your running game. I know that from having to defend it. That’s what we’re looking to do.”

The run game is the Broncos greatest offensive strength and has made a comeback in the NFL the last few years. Just look at the best rushing offenses in the league; nine of the top 11 rushing attacks in 2018 all made the playoffs, one of the two that didn’t was the Tennessee Titans who just barely missed the postseason.

In a world where scoring is up, the run game has had as much of an impact on that increase as anything.

Even without Kubiak, a balanced attack that features the run will be essential. Just remember that as we look at new potential coordinator hires.

Modernizing, or rather adapting to personnel in the event the Broncos draft a quarterback will be key, but the run game can’t be abandoned in that process, especially if Munchak is on board with more gap-scheme concepts, attacking and overloading running lanes to get blockers on the move.

Furthermore, the Broncos need an offense that can be adaptable and win in a variety of ways. Style points are great, but they don’t mean anything if you can’t close out games by running the ball, or if you’re done once you fall behind by two possessions. Third-and-long or third and short, on the goal line, in bad weather or good weather, the offense needs to be adaptable, balanced, and versatile. With Fangio’s insights on a balanced attack, being adaptable is really what he’s getting at.

We’ve already featured some potential OC candidates and if Fangio wants to follow in Nagy’s footsteps and add a college mind with RPO and spread offense expertise, like Mark Helfrich is for the Bears, former North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora might make sense.

There are plenty of coaches out there who’ve had success with young quarterbacks and adjusted their offenses with more collegiate schemes, finding the right guy will be essential.

We’ll be sure to follow up with a film room on that scheme once a new OC is hired, for now, the Broncos need to search far and wide and get Munchak officially on board, the rest will fall into place.

Kubiak not being in the picture could spell doom for center Matt Paradis, who will be a free agent this offseason. Fullback Andy Janovich and veteran receiver Emmanuel Sanders’ job security doesn’t seem to be nearly as good as it would’ve been had the old ball coach been brought in.

It’s easy to speculate, but until we know more, it’s impossible to say what the moves on offense will be until the Broncos find their new OC.