Denver Broncos to interview Cowboys DC Dan Quinn for head coach position

The Denver Broncos are in the process of searching for a new head football coach. Of course, they were in the same situation a year ago and hired Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who had just coached Aaron Rodgers to back-to-back MVP’s in his offensive system.

His head coaching stint went as poorly as possible, with Denver finishing as one of the worst offenses in the NFL despite trading a boatload of future assets for star Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson before the year. With Wilson being paid like a top quarterback in the NFL, along with the weapons Denver already had, expectations were high. Throw in the fact that the Broncos defense was elite in 2021 and good again this year — the blame for such a disappointing year fell on the offense, which was the side of the ball Hackett was brought in to fix.

Hackett was fired before the end of the season, beginning a second coaching search in the last two years. According to Adam Schefter, one candidate Denver will interview for the job is current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Here was Schefter’s report, which he posted to Twitter on Monday:

“Cowboys’ DC Dan Quinn, whose unit will be charged with stopping Tom Brady tonight, is scheduled to interview Friday for the Broncos’ head coaching job, per source.”

Quinn was brought on in Dallas in head coach Mike McCarthy’s second year with the team, and he masterminded a total turnaround for the Cowboy defense into one of the NFL’s top units over the last two seasons.

Before coaching Dallas, Quinn was most recently the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He took them to the 2015 Super Bowl and lost in the infamous 28-3 collapse at the hands of Tom Brady and the Patriots. His Falcons run was all down hill after that debacle and he was eventually fired during the 2020 season.

The Denver Broncos are a defensive-minded franchise of late and have had better units on that end of the field for most of the last decade. Before the Hackett hire, their two previous head coaches were both former defensive coordinators in Vic Fangio and Vance Joseph. After a failed experiment with an offensive-minded head coach, perhaps John Elway and Broncos brass opt to go back to a guy with a defensive background.

Dan Quinn certainly fits that mold and has head coaching experience as well. If he’s getting an interview, that tells you he’s a very serious candidate. And he seems like a great fit given Denver’s head coaching track record.