SPECIAL-TEAMS COACH O’BRIEN TO JOIN PATRIOTS
Scott O’Brien, the Broncos’ special teams coach the past two seasons, is leaving for New England where he will be reunited with coach Bill Belichick, according to an NFL source.
Belichick was coaching the Cleveland Browns in 1991 when he gave O’Brien his first NFL job. While O’Brien’s role is not yet defined, he could become the Patriots’ special teams coach as its expected Brad Seely will leave New England to coach special teams for Eric Mangini in Cleveland.
O’Brien’s position with the Broncos is expected to be filled by Kansas City special-teams coach Mike Priefer, who was given permission by the Chiefs to interview with Denver and new head coach Josh McDaniels.
Most of McDaniels’ first full day as head coach was spent putting together his first staff. He interviewed two 14-season members of Mike Shanahan’s staff — running game coordinator Rick Dennison and running backs coach Bobby Turner — on Tuesday and was to interview receivers coach Jedd Fisch today.
It appears unlikely that Broncos quarterback coach Jeremy Bates will return. He interviewed Tuesday for an offensive position with the Oakland Raiders’ staff. The Broncos most likely would not have allowed Bates to interview with an AFC West rival if they had plans to retain him.
McDaniels will not only call the plays, he will work with the quarterbacks and run the quarterback meetings. The fiery Bates, who like McDaniels is 32 and called the offensive plays last season, is not likely to accept a demotion, providing such an offer was made.
Meanwhile, Broncos tight end coach Pat McPherson was told McDaniels has someone else in mind for his position. McPherson has an interview later in the week with Tampa Bay.
On the defensive side, the Broncos finalized a two-year contract with defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who is expected to have input on the defensive staff. Former NFL head coach Dom Capers, who spent the past season on the Patriots’ staff, is a candidate to join McDaniels in Denver.
At his news conference Monday, McDaniels said he had not yet talked to Capers, “not that I wouldn’t.”
What about Jay?
McDaniels planned to place a call Tuesday to his new quarterback, Jay Cutler. It’s not known whether the two spoke, because Cutler has been traveling.
Cutler not only publicly stated his displeasure at the decision to fire Shanahan, the quarterback strongly urged the team to retain Bates. After Cutler spoke, he received a phone call from owner Pat Bowlen.
And now it appears both Shanahan and Bates are gone. Perhaps Cutler will eventually become comforted, knowing McDaniels has a pretty good record of bringing along quarterbacks.
To wit: If he’s good enough for Tom Brady, McDaniels should be good enough for Cutler. McDaniels also guided career- long backup Matt Cassel, who doesn’t have nearly the arm strength that Cutler does, to an 89.4 rating last season, 10th-best in the league.
Cutler ranked 16th (86.0 rating).
“I’m going to tell him what I’m about and who I am and what I’m looking forward to,” McDaniels said about Cutler after his news conference Monday. “Our relationship is going to be very important to me. I’ll have an impact on him on a daily basis, and I know that I’m looking forward to that and I hope he’s looking forward to that. Once that relationship begins, I think it will be one that will flourish. I’ve had an opportunity to work with some great quarterbacks in my tenure in New England, and he is definitely someone that I can’t wait to get started to work with.”
Mike Klis, Lindsay H. Jones, The Denver Post
