Sean Payton has a new assistant head coach with the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos have hired Mike Westhoff as an assistant head coach, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. He will oversee the club’s special teams units alongside new special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica.
Westhoff and Kotwica previously worked together under Rex Ryan with the New York Jets from 2009-2012. Ryan is also a candidate to land in Denver. In fact, Ryan was spotted at the Hilton Denver Inverness hotel — about 10 minutes from the Broncos’ facility — on Saturday morning.
Ryan has already interviewed for Denver’s defensive coordinator opening, and he was in town for a second interview over the weekend, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Ryan is considered the favorite for the DC position, but he is not the only candidate.
The Broncos also interviewed Vance Joseph and Kris Richard last week, and Christian Parker, Mike Zimmer and Nick Rallis have also been linked to Denver’s opening in recent weeks. Rallis is no longer a candidate after taking the DC position with the Arizona Cardinals. It remains to be seen if any other candidates will be interviewed.
Elsewhere on the coaching front, Broncos tight ends coach Jake Moreland has left to join the Houston Texans in a lateral move. Denver is expected to hire Declan Doyle to replace Moreland.
The Broncos are also losing “instructional designer” John Viera, who is following Nathaniel Hackett to the New York Jets, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. He was a “coach for the coaches” in Denver last year.
Klis also reported that regardless of who the Broncos hire as defensive coordinator, they hope to keep defensive line coach Marcus Dixon and secondary coach Christian Parker on staff in some capacity.
We are tracking all of Denver’s coaching staff changes on this page.
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