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Published on 01/14/2011 at Fri Jan 14 14:48.
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John Fox: Personnel before Scheme

Posted Fri Jan 14th by

Denver Broncos head coach 108027723addresses the media at Dove Valley on January 14, 2011 in Englewood, Colorado. Fox was named the 14th head coach in Broncos history yesterday after spending the last nine seasons as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Denver Broncos head coach 108027723addresses the media at Dove Valley on January 14, 2011 in Englewood, Colorado. Fox was named the 14th head coach in Broncos history yesterday after spending the last nine seasons as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

John Fox took the podium shortly after noon Friday, and the reign of the 14th head coach in Denver Broncos history began.

It promises to be a reign in stark contrast to the previous regime: the new coach is a polar opposite of his predecessor. Fox is an experienced, level-headed, defensive-oriented head coach of nine years; Josh McDaniels was a raw, passionate, offensive-oriented rookie.

So on Friday, Fox didn’t make promises of a quick fix and didn’t look to enthrall the fanbase. His demeanor was calm, confident, and straightforward, and his message was clear: “I’m the guy. I’ll fix this.”

If there’s one specific part of Fox’s message that rang true, it was that this new head coach isn’t going to pigeon hole his players into roles that fit a particular scheme. He’s going to choose and develop a scheme that maximizes the talents of the existing roster.

It’s a jarring change of philosophy from McDaniels, who cut, traded, signed, and drafted players based largely on how those players fit into his system.

“I’ve got an old adage,” Fox said. “You show me a good coach; I’ll show you some good players.”

Those players will even affect scheme at the very highest level. Saying the Broncos are “not at ground zero,” Fox wouldn’t even commit to implementing the 4-3 defense with which he is so familiar stemming from his nine years with the Carolina Panthers, even after acknowledging the 3-4 Broncos unit he inherited ranked 32nd in the league.

If ever there was a time a coach could get away with overhauling a defense, this would be it, but Fox wouldn’t commit to that just yet. “Right now, we’re trying to upgrade the personnel,” Fox said.

Personally I love this philosophy; it’s one of the things McDaniels spoke of trying to accomplish, but his actions never reflected those intentions. Nearly every position on both sides of the football field was completely restructured to “better” fit McDaniels’ systems, and it resulted in a gruesome lack of depth and the unfortunate departure of roster talent. Don’t expect the same extreme player turnover under Fox, and don’t expect a decision on a defensive scheme until his staff is hired and evaluations are complete.

(But it certainly looks like he’s leaning toward a 4-3 anyway).

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  • BroncoSoldier

    Coach Fox is talking the right talk and I truly hope he walks the walk. I will admit that I was pulling for RICO but if this is what Elway feels is best for the team I am behind him 100%. Now lets see who he brings on as his staff and we should be able to get a clearer picture of the future.

    GO BRONCOS!!

  • CJ

    If they get Rick Dennison As offensive coordinator/assistant head coach i will be one happy camper.

  • CJ

    Im liking the idea of Jim Mora as DC… its growin on me

  • kerry

    Mike McCoy is gonna end up staying here. im sure of it. im interested in seeing what McCoy can do without MCD's dumbass in the way of play calling. i still want the ZBS back and a drafting of Mark Ingram in the second round this year. that would be nice. Mora im not sure about.

  • http://ehalseymiles.com E. Halsey Miles

    Everything I've read about Fox indicates he's a big fan of the ZBS and he likes a power running game, so we have to expect that he's going to try to balance the offense in that respect. With a young quarterback like Tim Tebow, tooling around a running game is the obvious choice while he gets experience and works on turning raw talent into actual wins.

    Other than re-emphasizing the running game, which likely means more power back sets and 2 tight end sets and fewer 3 wide receiver sets means we'll need to look toward picking up another receiving TE again and making sure we have quality depth at RB. That's the only real change I foresee on offense. Our OL should be capable of running the ZBS — though I dunno how well our rookies fit into it. Clady, Harris and Kuper were all brought onto the team specifically for ZBS and are known to excel at it. Not sure about Beadles and Walton, though, it may not fit as well for them.

    Defense is going to be the interesting bit. To do the kind of defense Fox likes to run, we'll need 1, probably 2 upgrades on the interior D-line. Lots of people are saying we switch to back to 4-3 but I suspect that depends entirely on available personnel more than anything.

  • Stapleton29

    The coach said , nasty, disruptive. Thats Nick Fairley, from Auburn at # 2 in the draft. seems we've got a couple of those types already in M. Haggan, E. Dumerville, and Dawkins let's get it on.

  • herc_rock

    I am Coaching Unit 108027723.

    bleep blorp beep.

  • areferee

    I thought the Rock had blown a fuse until I looked at the photo. Funny sh*t.

  • http://twitter.com/burke_kris Kris Burke

    You know, I wouldn't even mind a “hybrid” of sorts. It would keep Dumervil fresh especially as he comes back from his injury

  • LevonZevon

    Ingram is headed to Miami in the middle of round-one unfortunately. But we could trade some of our expected 2nd and 3rd rounders to move down and have two 1st rounders like last year.

  • LevonZevon

    Don't forget Jason Hunter in either scheme. He played well without pre-season reps and started off as a 4-3 DE in Schwartz's defense for the Lions.

    I don't see him starting, but with Vickerson could be our top depth (and maybe a reason why we could trade Ayers and gain more 2nd rounders).

  • areferee

    How can you listen to that news conference and not be pumped? Training camp seems way too far away. I am anxious to get the new Broncos started.

  • TheTroglodyte

    Slick writeup!

  • TheTroglodyte

    This makes me want to drink a Power Thirst!

  • http://ehalseymiles.com E. Halsey Miles

    In a 4-3 Ayers and Doom start at end. Hannah can start at DT and we get another solid DT. Williams and Haggan play OLB and we need an MLB. Some suggest Mays hut while mays has excelled I'm not sure he's a starting Mike. Maybe.

    Fox seems to like zone coverage which I'm not so fond of. Champ excels either in man or zone but all our other CBs are mre man coverage guys. And e need help at safety with Dawkins showing age this season. I guess he's still got some left but who knows how much.

    Projected starting defensive acquisitions: 1 DT 1 LB 1CB 1S.

    If we stick with a 3-4 we are better off at both LB and CB but still need S and probaly 1 DT and 1 NT.

  • crazykid

    I am crazy to prefer a 4-3? So far, I'm not impressed with the “chaos” a 3-4 is supposed to create (a term dubbed by the Denver Post btw)

    Dumervill is atrocious in pass coverage? move him to DE
    Robert Ayers was a DE in college? move him back to DE
    Justin Bannon is a big, tenacious body? move him to DT
    Mario Haggan, DJ Williams, Jason Hunter ,Joe Mays and even Wesley Woodyard provide depth.
    Hell, we could play a 3-4 in obvious pass rushing situations and just rush Dumervill. I bet other offenses would love that.
    So what do you think; is crazykid that crazy after all?

    I'm still torn between Patrick Peterson and Nick Fairley (just throwing that out there while i comment)

  • crazykid

    I am crazy to prefer a 4-3? So far, I'm not impressed with the “chaos” a 3-4 is supposed to create (a term dubbed by the Denver Post btw)

    Dumervill is atrocious in pass coverage? move him to DE
    Robert Ayers was a DE in college? move him back to DE
    Justin Bannon is a big, tenacious body? move him to DT
    Mario Haggan, DJ Williams, Jason Hunter ,Joe Mays and even Wesley Woodyard provide depth.
    Hell, we could play a 3-4 in obvious pass rushing situations and just rush Dumervill. I bet other offenses would love that.
    So what do you think; is crazykid that crazy after all?

    I'm still torn between Patrick Peterson and Nick Fairley (just throwing that out there while i comment)

  • crazykid

    *Mario Haggan, D.J. Williams, etc provide depth at LB. Just to clear that up…

  • CJ

    I say go 4-3 but our secondary is still horse shit
    We lose champ to free agency
    We lose cox to Prison
    We lose dawkins to age/possible retirement
    Renaldo and syd are all we got… Really?!?!?!

  • CJ

    Fairley is a great nose tackle and Peterson is a great corner.

    who would you choose?

  • 5280

    I'm sorry i disagree with most of the players we got on defence. I think most of them need to be scrapped and i think we need mor then just one or 2 D lineman to fix this. i dont think we should be looking for any corners or saftets in the draft. we need to go all D lineman and linebackers. all of ours except for maybe mays and DJ are to inconsistant no matter what type of D we use: 3-4 or 4-3. I think they're most definitely gonna use a hybrid involving both 3-4 and 4-3 shemes. The first guy we go after should be either a fast pass rushing LB like fairley or a big 4-3, fast DE like Bowers. I think that no matter what we need to land a DT whose big and strong and that can snuff out the run, like marcel dareus. We can pick up good defencive free agents as well so that we dont have to depend entirley on the draft. However i do agree with picking up mark ingram in a middle round if he's there. he would compliment moreno very nicely, seeing as how moreno has no legs and can't run between the tackles very effectively. If we were to spend a pick on a corner or saftey it would have to be a FOR SURE starter which would have to make it peterson. If we sign champ we could move him to saftey once dawkins shorts out, but i dont think either of them are ready to hang it up just yet. We have A LOT of depth at DB with parrish cox, cassius vaughn, and sydcuan thompson. they'er all fast, they just need a lil more tutoring which is where signing champ is pivitol. Hunter did okay this season but didn't stand out to much and the same can be said for woodyard. vickerson is too weak of a pass rusher, and so is McBean. If bannan wants to stay he needs to show more too in my opinion. all of these players had mediocer seasons at best so i dont get the idea of keeping them. Too move Dumervil any where besides a 3-4 LB is preposterous! I dont care if he can cover or not the man creates to much pressure on QBs to put him back in a 4-3 DE postion. I dont think we should let go of ayers just yet. if he doesn't produce this year with Dumerville back then we send him packing, but he's only gonna be in his 3rd year. all the linebackers do provide “depth”, but they should, for the most part, sit the bench except mayes, DJ, and ayers. the others havn't done anything special what so ever. and the reason the 3-4 wasn't very successful this year is because of all the negative personnel moves on D(nolan leaving, Dum out for season, Wink SUCKS etc.). the 3-4 is the most advanced strategic D in the league right now and the best teams in the league just happen to be running it. It's funny how all of you LOVE most of the players on defence even though we have the worst defence in the league.

  • crazykid

    There are so many options we could choose….

    Peterson to replace (or hopefully be mentored by) Champ Bailey…

    Fairley to fill a massive need at D-line.

    We could trade down with a team desperate for a quarterback who wants to leapfrog Buffalo. Tennesse or San Fran?

    Personally, I say go w/ Peterson. I think its harder to find elite corners than D-linemen.
    In the 2nd round, we go Rahim Moore (Safety, UCLA) and Jerrell Powe (NT/DT, Ole Miss).

    In the 3rd, we go Sione Fua (NT, Stanford).

    In the 4th, we go…oh wait. F*** you McD and Maroney

  • crazykid

    Fairley's not a “fast pass rushing LB”.

    And even if we switch to 4-3, I'm still not sold on Da'Quan.
    I mean, we already have Syd'Quan, how ghetto do we have to get? haha

  • mikebirty

    liked everything I heard and expected to hear everything i heard.

    How to have an immediate effect on the fans the exact opposite of McDaniels? Get Prof X and Elway to throw some money at Champ now.

  • 5280

    Yes fairley is or can be rather. like dum. dum was an undersized DE and now he's an LB. everything else you said about getting “ghetto” was quite ignorant, kid. i know u weren't serious though. right?

  • mikebirty

    yeah Tim Tebow's from the 'hood

  • flbronc

    i am with you on your general sentiment. our defense from top to bottom isnt all that good outside of doom, champ and dj. the other 8 guys should probably be the guys providing depth, not starting. we need to upgrade almost every defensive position going into next year.

    hopefully they put two plans on the table- one for a 3-4 and one for a 4-3. Then they look at players available to upgrade our current personell for and make up a list for each system..then as coach and gm they talk about which list we have a better chance of getting most of the guys, then we go out and start signing/drafting those people. i really dont care at this point which way we go, as long as we can keep crappy teams from posting 30+ on us.

  • robtink242

    i would like to see that as well.. everyone talking about the switch back to 4-3.. our best defender is clearly Doom and i really think we should play to his strengths at OLB in the 3-4 defense.. Ayers can go back to DE where he can make plays in the running game and eat up blocks for our LB's.. i've said this on numerous occasions that the true reason we fail with our 3-4 defense was our lack of aggression.

  • anthony33

    ZBS and Mark Ingram… would like to see that.
    Moreno also seems better suited for a ZBS as well… he just need to man up.

  • anthony33

    To me, assuming he switches back to a 4-3, you have to start with the front 4. If you can slow down the run and rush the passer with those 4 guys, the remaining seven have much easier jobs. Help is needed at all levels.

    Sure hope Casey Matthews is around in the third.

  • DonkHonk

    Now nothing can be done until the new CBA is complete…. but I say go back to the 4 – 3 and go get Albert Haynesworth. He wants toplay in a 4 – 3. Send Orton and some other scrap to Shanni and get Albert. Next, resign Champ and sign Nnamdi Asomugha. Uh oh… 2 lock down corners, now we're on to something. Now we drat a MLB, S and a Pass Rusher.

    It's so fun playing with Pat's money…

  • TheTroglodyte

    HAHA!

  • areferee

    Better than “Kool-Aid”, Cave Man. :-)

  • areferee

    Yeah, you're crazy, but that's why we like you.

  • areferee

    McDaniels was from the hoodie…

  • areferee

    Buy the “Silver Fox” a regulation Broncos tie. That'll help.

  • crazykid

    Filipino gangster…

  • CJ

    If we sign champ back i say try him out at safety to prolong his career
    Nnamdi Asomugha wont play for denver and never will
    Jason la canfora said we will prob get a 3rd rounder/maybe a 2nd for orton

    Idk if Robert Ayers is even a good 4-3 DE

  • crazykid

    no that was just a joke, haha. I like Syd's name because its so unique.

    Sorry to say though, but i wasnt joking about the Fairley could be a pass rushing LB comment. The guy is almost 300 lbs. Dumervill was never close to 300, so thats why he could make the transition. I think DT would be more necesary for us right now than pass rushing LB anyway.

  • crazykid

    yea, you're right. Mathews is a beast! I forget about him.

  • DoD

    I disagree with your spelling of defense.

  • http://nation.theorangepage.com/blog Ian Henson

    Why do people forget that Dumervil was good at DE? In 2007 as a RDE he had 12.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and only six less sacks than he had in 2009.

    Switch to 4-3, retain Champ, Andre Goodman is still good, if Perrish Cox returns great, if not I really like Syd'quan Thompson as well. Of course we'll get a corner or two in free agency. Safety is the focus of the secondary to me.

    And yes, Ayers will be great at LDE, but we don't know what will be available in free agency (if there is one) or in the draft, Dumervil was a fourth round draft pick. Julius Peppers was the second overall pick. We'll be okay no matter what we decide.

  • http://nation.theorangepage.com/blog Ian Henson

    You just said to retire Champ btw. Who wouldn't want Asomugha, that would be incredible, but that $28M on your starting corners minimum per year. Think if Asomugha's not back in Oakland he may be New York (Jets) bound, which would be an even more incredible combination than the one in Denver.

  • NMBronc

    Signing Weddle at Safety would help a great deal.

  • areferee

    From NFL.com:

    Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy will remain with the team to work under new coach John Fox, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

  • CJ

    The broncos secondary is like a retirement home!

    Goodman is alright when hes healthy… which is like never
    We need some youth all around

  • CJ

    Names that have surfaced for Denver’s defensive coordinator include Ron Meeks, Sal Sunseri and former Atlanta and Seattle coach Jim Mora.

  • http://Facebook.com/BroncosZone Jon

    I'd love to go back to a 4-3

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    Too early for that. He's still a very very good cornerback. Top 5 in the NFL.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    You'll probably get your wish.

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