It’s official: Darren Rizzi is reuniting with Sean Payton.
The Broncos hired Rizzi as their new special teams coordinator and assistant head coach, the team announced on Friday after multiple media reports said a deal was imminent.
Rizzi, 54, comes to Dove Valley from the Saints, where he was hired by Payton as New Orleans’ special teams coach in 2019. The New Jersey native three years later was promoted from special teams coordinator to assistant head coach/special teams coordinator under Payton’s successor as Saints coach, Dennis Allen. After Allen was fired during the 2024 regular season, Rizzi served as New Orleans’ interim head coach, posting a 3-5 record.
The new Broncos coordinator brings a resume that includes three decades of working with special teams, including stints with those units while on the staffs of the Saints (2019-2024), Dolphins (2009-2018), Rutgers (2002-2007), Northeastern (1998) and New Haven (1994-96).
Rizzi’s units in New Orleans ranked second in longtime NFL reporter Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings in 2023, 20th in 2022, fifth in 2021, sixth in 2020,
The Broncos are overhauling their special teams staff in 2025. Mike Westhoff retired for health reasons during the season, and coordinator Ben Kotwica was fired last month.
“He’s very detail-oriented,” Rizzi told New Orleans reporters recently when asked about Payton. “He’s not going to let anything slide. It doesn’t matter who it is — it doesn’t matter if it’s a coordinator, quarterback, defensive captain, it doesn’t matter who it is. So I think he’s earned a lot of people’s respect through the years because he’s not going to (just) let something go.”
