INDIANAPOLIS — First-year Broncos head coach has continued a team tradition of seeking “Bronco guys” in the NFL draft. So what does that mean?
“We want guys that love to play. We want guys who are engaged to play. We want guys who want to play football everyday. Thatap the biggest thing with young guys – itap a full-time job. Itap no longer college and it’s football all day so you gotta love it. Itap gotta be the right personality for an engaged player because if you’re not engaged you can’t play in this league.”
Joseph got even more specific when asked about improvements in the defensive line, arguably the biggest need outside of the offensive line.
“We’re looking for guys who can stop the run game and also can pass rush. That was Earl Mitchell’s thing. He could be good in run game, but also could rush on third downs,” Joseph said. “Thatap important when you’re in a 3-4 to have your big guys, your interior guys, be able to rush the passer on sub-downs.”
The Broncos courted Mitchell, who was released by the Dolphins in February, but the defensive linemen who played one season under Joseph decided to take more money and sign with the 49ers.
Scheme matters. The Broncos have been steadfast that they’ll run both power and zone blocking schemes this season. They were a zone team last year and new offensive line coach is primarily known as a power blocking coach, but they see value in both.
“It makes you tough to defend,” Joseph said.
The problem is the Broncos can’t rebuild their offense if they don’t know their identity. General manager talked with offensive coordinator about that exact issue.
“I’ve asked Mike, ‘What do you want do?'” Elway said. “He said, ‘Whatever we do best.’ I said, ‘Well, we have to draft (a lineman) so we’re not sure what we do best just yet. You got Matt (Paradis) who is more of a zone center and Max (Garcia) who is more of a gap guard. You got to find the best of both worlds and put them all together.”
Adam Gase talks Joseph: Former Broncos offensive coordinator and current Dolphins head coach Adam Gase wasn’t surprised when the Broncos named Joseph head coach. Joseph was the defensive coordinator in Miami last season.
“He was a guy that people were going to want to talk to,” Gase said. “I just kept thinking to myself, ‘It would be hard for a team to turn him down.’ When he gets in a room, his presence and the command he has around people, that would be a tough guy to walk away from and be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to hire him.’ Anybody would have been running to try to grab him up.”
Testing the market. Broncos are on the hunt for defensive players. Last year they declined Sylvester Williams’ fifth-year option but they have expressed interest in trying to retain the nose tackle.
“We’ve had conversations with his agent,” Elway said. “It sounds like that they want to hit the market and find what is out there. He’ll hit it and we’ll see what happens.”
