Mark Thewes arrived in Denver 16 years ago as a former Ohio high school teammate of Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was canned in his second season as the Broncos boss, but Thewes remained, becoming a trusted, stabilizing force for eight more coaches (counting interims) and three general managers.
But a promotion and friendship with a new general manager proved too hard to pass up. Thewes will join former Broncos scout and Raiders GM John Spytek in Las Vegas as senior vice president of football operations, a source confirmed to The Post.
Thewes most recently served as the Broncos vice president of football operations and compliance. He worked as a liaison to the league office and also played a key role in Denver’s analytics department. He was long known as a Swiss Army knife. An accomplished college baseball player, he often threw passes to receivers during drill work at practice or set up equipment. During the messy 2022 season, he was placed in the coaches’ booth to help accelerate the play-calling operation for coach Nathaniel Hackett.
Thewes had multiple opportunities to leave through the years, but his connection to Spytek, a Broncos scout from 2013 to ’15, made this time different. With Spytek in Las Vegas and former Broncos assistant GM Darren Mougey now the Jets GM, more Broncos employees may leave for bigger roles. Denver’s coaching and front-office staffs have been picked through this offseason with Mougey, John Morton (Lions offensive coordinator), Declan Doyle (Bears OC), David Shaw (Lions passing game coordinator), Chris Banjo (Jets special teams coordinator) all moving upward. Special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica and linebackers coach Greg Manusky were also let go.
Coach Sean Payton has been interviewing replacements for the vacant positions.
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