The Broncos, who lost Christian Parker to the Eagles, have replaced him with Jim Leonhard, who will serve as the defensive backs coach.According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the Denver Broncos want to hire Jim Leonhard as their defensive backs coach. He claims that the former NFL safety is well-known in coaching circles and has spoken with numerous NFL and college teams before joining the Broncos’ defensive coaching staff.
Leonhard, a former undrafted free agent, competed in the league from 2005 to 2014. Throughout that time, he played for the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland Browns. He recorded 431 career tackles, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, 14 interceptions, and one defensive score. Following his playing career, he joined Wisconsin’s coaching staff as the defensive backs coach. From 2017 to 2022, he was Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator, and he also served as the team’s interim head coach. Leonhard was a senior football analyst for Illinois this past season. Now he will make his NFL coaching debut as the Denver Broncos defensive backs coach.
The 41-year-old coach will succeed Christian Parker, who just departed the Broncos to join Vic Fangio’s coaching staff with the Philadelphia Eagles. He has huge shoes to fill because Parker is regarded as an up-and-coming coach and future defensive coordinator who was responsible for the development of many of the Broncos’ secondary players during his tenure with the organization.
Leonhard becomes the Broncos’ second coaching hire of the offseason. A few weeks ago, it was reported that the Broncos planned to recruit former Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael to take an offensive role on Sean Payton’s staff. With Leonhard apparently hired, the only remaining coaching change is to replace former defensive line coach Marcus Dixon, who left to join the Minnesota Vikings’ coaching staff last week.
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