The Broncos are losing yet another coach to a coordinator posting in Buffalo.
Denver secondary coach Jim Leonhard is leaving to be the Bills’ defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Saturday morning.
Leonhard has spent the past two seasons coaching Denver’s defensive backs and the group has been among the best in football.
Leonhard, 43, is considered widely as an up-and-coming coach in the NFL.
In fact, Broncos head coach Sean Payton said he tried to hire Leonhard in 2023 for his first coaching staff, but the former University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator and interim head coach instead decided to take a year off after he didn’t get the permanent posting at UW, his alma mater.
Payton got his way a year later, when he hired Leonhard as his secondary coach.
A Tony, Wisconsin native, Leonhard is plenty familiar with Buffalo. He spent the first three years of his decade-long playing career there from 2005-07 and then returned in 2013.
He is the Denver coach in as many days to leave for a coordinator posting with the Bills, joining senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael, who became Brady’s offensive coordinator on Friday.
Payton now has seen five coaches leave his staff by firing or by choice. In addition to the two departures, Payton fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch. Leonhard and Lynch worked together, so Lynch could be in line to follow with Leonhard.
This story will be updated.
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