Jack del Rio lands Broncos defensive coordinator gig

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Just a couple years removed from an ill-fated attempt to turn Denver into Patriots West, head coach John Fox is turning the Broncos into Panthers West.  John’s old pal Jack Del Rio will be the Denver Broncos’ next defensive coordinator.

Late Friday the Broncos came to terms with Del Rio, who served as defensive coordinator under John Fox in Carolina in 2002.  With Del Rio, the Panthers went from the #31 defense in the league to the 2^nd best in a single season before Jack was hired away by the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Del Rio was fired in November after 9 years as Jacksonville’s head coach.

The Broncos turned to Del Rio just days after the Oakland Raiders poached defensive coordinator Dennis Allen from Denver and installed him as their new head coach.  Under Allen and Fox the Broncos improved from the NFL’s worst defense to 20^th.  Denver’s overhauled D played extremely well during an 8 game stretch that saw Tim Tebow and the Broncos grab 7 wins.

There is no doubt that Jack Del Rio is an exceptional defensive mind.  Even as the Jaguars’ offense plummeted to worst in the league, Jacksonville still rolled out the 6^th best defense in 2011.  Del Rio looks like a perfect pickup by the Elway/Fox Administration fresh off a shocking playoff win and division title.

The Broncos will look to Del Rio to provide stability at defensive coordinator.  Jack is Denver’s 7^th new defensive coordinator in as many seasons.  He inherits a young Broncos defense that will need to add talent through the draft or free agency to shore up its porous secondary and lack of depth at interior lineman.

Jack Del Rio is 48 years old and played 11 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker.  He earned a Pro Bowl nod as a Miami Dolphin in 1994, but retired in 1996 after losing his roster spot to rookie Zach Thomas.  Del Rio was a linebackers coach with the Ravens and a conditioning coach in New Orleans before joining Fox in Carolina.

Tweeted Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins from Hawaii, “Love the hire, just hope we can keep him around.”

This entry was posted by Ian Cerveny on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 3:30 am and is filed under Broncos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Tags: Bronco, Dennis Allen, Denver Broncos, Jack Del Rio, Jacksonville Jaguars, John Fox, nfl, Oakland Raiders

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