Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.
Is Vance Joseph this era’s Wade Phillips or will we lose him to another head coaching job? There is no question he is proving to be one of the best defensive minds in football. We lost a certified star (Justin Simmons) and another very good player (Josey Jewell) in the heart of our defense, but got significantly better. However, he was not the worst (see the Hack last Sunday), but a terrible head coach for us during our current run of bad teams.
— PB Heaton, Atlanta
PB! Thanks for writing and for getting us going this week.
Vance Joseph has the Broncos defense playing at a high level so far this season, that’s for sure. Phillips is the natural comparison because Joseph’s back as a coordinator after being fired as the Broncos head coach, just like what happened to Phillips throughout his coaching career. But also Phillips is one of the people who’s had an impact on Joseph, too, after they spent 2011-13 together in Houston.
As for Joseph’s prospects at a second head coaching job, if Denver’s defense continues playing like this, you’d have to imagine teams will want to at least interview him. Obviously, some of it depends on how many jobs come open — the first one of the cycle already has with the New York Jets firing Robert Saleh on Tuesday.
Yeah, Joseph’s first go as a head coach did not work, but if every guy who failed as a first-time head coach never got a second chance, there’d be a distinct lack of candidates.
It’s been particularly difficult in the NFL for Black head coaches to get second chances. Currently, Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay and Raheem Morris (finally) in Atlanta are in that camp and both have a chance to be in the mix this year. Morris was fired as Tampa Bay’s coach in 2011 and didn’t get his second chance until 2024.
I talked to Joseph about all of this last summer during training camp and he was open about the fact that he learned a lot from his first head coaching stint, that he knows he didn’t do everything right, and that he’s paying close attention to how Sean Payton does things.
“God willing, my second chance happens and I can do it the right way and the whole way. Not just part of it,” Joseph said back in August 2023. “It’s a job; you don’t know until you do it. But watching (Payton), watching his experiences, how he talks to the team, how he teaches football, that’s huge for me moving forward as a candidate to be a head coach.”
That felt like a long way off by the time Week 5 rolled around last year. Now? Maybe not so much.
Is Marvin Mims Jr. in Sean Payton’s doghouse, a poor route runner or something else? In the summer we heard his touches last year were related to being the same guy as Jerry Jeudy and he should be more integrated in the office. He has top-end speed to take the top off a defense. What’s up?
— David, Frisco, Texas
Yeah good question, David. I think it’s mostly “something else.” Mims definitely showed frustration at times during training camp and didn’t have many eye-popping plays or days, but it didn’t seem like the type of thing that lands a player in a perma-doghouse. And the questions about his role aren’t new, either. Payton kept saying last year they wanted to get him more involved and it kept not happening. And the same has essentially been true this season. In fact, he’s played 16 or fewer offensive snaps in every game this season and he’s been at 12 or fewer four times. He only played 12 snaps once last year and played 25 or more in seven of Denver’s final eight games.
So far, the top three receivers by playing time have been Courtland Sutton (266 snaps), Lil’Jordan Humphrey (200) and Josh Reynolds (187). Then it’s a massive drop to Mims and rookie Troy Franklin at 59 each.
The O-line has played better in Weeks 3 and 4 with Mike McGlinchey out and Alex Palczewski playing at right tackle. Coincidence? What happens when McGlinchey is healthy again? Thanks.
— Bill, Pueblo
Hey Bill, thanks for writing in. McGlinchey’s become an easy-to-criticize player and certainly he needs to play better whenever he’s back in the lineup but to answer your question: Yes, it’s mostly coincidence that the line is playing better since he got hurt. It was not a one-man-failing situation the first two weeks. In fact, it’s just one measure, but Pro Football Focus had McGlinchey as the only one of Denver’s linemen not near the bottom of its positional rankings after two weeks.
Palczewski has filled in nicely — he’s been pretty good in the run game and he fights like crazy in pass protection — but now he’s dealing with an ankle injury. In a perfect world where everybody else was healthy, Palczewski might have been playing well enough to give McGlinchey a good, long runway toward getting back to the field. But given the current picture — Palczewski’s status unclear, Garett Bolles beat up but playing through it, etc. — I’m guessing the Broncos would be quite happy if McGlinchey is back in action soon. He’s first eligible next week, though remember it’s a short week going into Thursday Night Football at New Orleans.
Do you believe Alex Singleton would’ve torn his ACL had he come out the play it happened or was it torn on that very play? Answer me that, please! I believe it was a sprain if anything! He played the whole game and eventually tore it!
— Travis G., Fort Collins
Hey Travis, interesting question. Obviously, I can’t know that for sure, but Singleton told us last week that he knew he was hurt after Brandon Jones’ interception return. He just tried moving on the sideline and could do it and so he kept playing. He didn’t say anything about feeling like he aggravated it later or felt the pop later in the game or anything like that.
Some guys just have the ability to play through, uncommon as it is. Singleton said he thought it was his strengthening and flexibility work that kept his leg strong enough to hold up even despite the structural damage to his knee.
What are your thoughts about the Broncos stringing together three more wins against the Chargers, Saints and Panthers to get to 6-2 on the season? Too early too soon to be hopeful?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
Hey Ed, thanks for writing, as always. What’s the point of being a fan if you can’t get excited or be hopeful? Go for it! Now, is it likely? Not particularly. But it’s certainly not impossible. Denver’s a home underdog against the Chargers for a reason. They’re going to be a handful under Jim Harbaugh and they’ll be rested coming off a bye week. Normally, you don’t want your bye five weeks into the season. When your $262 million quarterback (Justin Herbert) is trying to get past an ankle injury, though, it’s never a bad time for a bye.
Obviously, there will be a lot of emotion going back to New Orleans for Sean Payton and the others in the organization who have deep ties to that city and franchise. We’ll see what Derek Carr’s injury status is after he left the Saints’ Monday night loss to Kansas City with an oblique injury. Then, yeah, Denver should be a strong home favorite against Carolina in Week 8. It’s the NFL and weird stuff happens every week, but if you’re a real playoff contender, you win that game nine times out of 10.
It wouldn’t be fully stunning, but I can’t say I’d be shocked by 1-2, either, which would mean 4-4 after eight games and going into those back-to-back roadies against Baltimore and Kansas City.
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One thing’s for sure: This is the time to make hay.
And a note for good measure: The last time Denver won six straight was during its 7-0 start to the 2015 Super Bowl season.
We’re entering Week 6 at 3-2 and I’m excited for that, but I’m concerned that Bo Nix hasn’t found that one receiving target that he can consistently rely on. It seems like he’s never quite on the same page with anyone aside from his check-down guys. Between Courtland Sutton, Josh Reynolds and Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who do you think steps up and becomes his No. 1 target moving into this second third of the season? Love your work.
— Paul N., Englewood
Paul, thanks for the note. You can look at it either way. Would you love a rookie to have a security blanket he knows he can target 12-15 times per game? Sure. But you could also flip it around and say that, in his most efficient outing so far against the Raiders, Nix completed passes to 11 different receivers. That could easily be interpreted as a good sign regarding Nix’s ability to get the ball to who’s available rather than forcing it to a couple of guys.
But there’s a part of this that’s an open question for the longer term: Sutton is a good player but he’s not a true No. 1 in the NFL. The Broncos also don’t have a dynamic threat at tight end, which also is a position that can make a quarterback’s life much easier. These aren’t issues that are going to be solved during the season, most likely. So the Broncos will be working with what they’ve got and trying to maximize that.
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