Earlier this week, news broke that Denver Broncos assistant head coach Mike Westhoff was stepping down due to health concerns.
After Wednesday’s practice, Broncos head coach Sean Payton began his press conference by addressing Westhoff’s retirement.
“I want to start real quickly and I know there’s already been a release regarding Mike Westhoff,” Payton said. “He and I’ve been together for quite some time. I think over the last two and a half weeks, he started having some blurriness in one of his eyes. Of course he didn’t say anything initially, he’s kind of a tough sucker. This [has] progressively been concerning to him. After the game, he went through some scans — went through quite a bit of medical work — and he felt, as well as his medical team, that it was in his best interest to step away. There’s a stress level obviously that takes place that can take its toll and certainly at his age with the condition.
“I know he’s gotten the treatment he’s needed, and he’ll continue to monitor that. I would say this — because I didn’t know him — I always knew of him, and we hired him mid-season in New Orleans. It’s not often that assistant coaches get into the [Pro Football] Hall of Fame. I’m not — I’m just saying, if there was, he’s one of those top special teams’ coordinators. Certainly, if you look at our numbers in two years relative to where we’ve come, he’s done a tremendous job here. We’ll miss him. Certainly, we’ll stay in touch.”
Payton convinced Westhoff to unretire in 2023 to help oversee Denver’s special teams units. The Broncos also hired special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica and assistant Chris Banjo. The plan was for Westhoff to help for one season and then have Kotwica completely take over in 2024. After last season went so well, though, Payton told owner Greg Penner to ask Westhoff to come back for one more season.
“[A]fter last season, I actually went in and saw Greg and said, ‘Hey why don’t you meet with him and see if you can talk him into coming back. He doesn’t have to come back until training camp,'” Payton recalled. “So Greg’s a good salesman and that went well.”
Westhoff will now retire again to focus on his health. Payton’s unlikely to get him to unretire a fourth time, so the Broncos will thank the coach for his service and move forward with Kotwica and Banjo.
