Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton tried to hire Jim Leonhard to his staff last year, but Leonhard took a break from coaching in 2023 while recovering from hip surgery.
After fully recovering, Leonhard joined Payton’s staff this spring as a defensive backs coach. Leonhard, 41, spent 10 years as a safety and special teams player in the NFL, including a summer with the New Orleans Saints in 2013.
“I had him briefly as a player and he reminds me that I cut him,” Payton said on June 12. “I think he [also] came here. He played for a long time. He’s extremely smart. Even last year in the process, he was going through a hip replacement surgery, so I was trying to hire him, but he was going to have trouble with that. He spent that year — last year — just working kind of as a consultant with Illinois. He was able to do that where it was going to be harder for him to commit.
“When this year came around and the opportunity presented itself — we are getting someone with [playing] experience and we’re getting someone with coaching experience as well. He’s been coaching at the college level now for quite a while and was a candidate to be the head coach at Wisconsin. I’ve kind of known him for a while and he’s one of those guys — not only myself, but I would say a number of people in the league have tracked and said, ‘This guy has got a real good future as a coach in this league.’”
Leonhard spent one season with the Broncos in 2012. Following his final season in 2014, Leonhard transitioned to coaching. He returned to Wisconsin, his alma mater, in 2016 and quickly worked his way up from defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator. Leonhard served as an interim head coach in 2022 before stepping down and taking a senior football analyst role at Illinois while rehabbing in 2023.
Now set to make his NFL coaching debut in 2024, Leonhard brings 10 years of experience as a player and seven years of coaching experience to Denver.
“He did a lot, and he will lean on him in all of those areas,” Payton said. “He really had a good career and was part of a lot of winning teams, too. The Jets — I remember competing against the Jets and [he] had two real good seasons there. He was part of those teams with Rex [Ryan]. He was in Baltimore and here. He was at a few stops, but when you play that long, he is doing something right.”
Broncos fans will get their first look at Leonhard coaching up the team’s defensive backs when training camp practices begin on Friday.
