Apart from college coaches who have made the leap to NFL team management, Cincinnati’s Zach Taylor is the only current coach to have been hired despite having no coordinator or game experience.
The move worked for the Bengals, who won the AFC North and hosted Las Vegas in Saturday’s playoff round.
Is Luke Getsy ready for the same rise?
The first step for Ghetsy, the 37-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback coach, was to interview for the Broncos head coach on Friday.
Ghetsy, the second choice for a meeting with Broncos general manager George Paton and his team chiefs committee, ended the meeting around 5:15 p.m. Friday, according to the club.
On Saturday morning, the Broncos team will interview Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and then fly back to Denver to await this weekend’s playoff games. On Thursday, they met with Detroit defense coordinator Aaron Glenn.
Eight candidates are on teams playing in the wild-card round and were not scheduled to be interviewed: Brian Callahan (Cincinnati) and Jarod Mayo (New England) on Saturday, Dan Quinn/Kellen Moore (Dallas), Jonathan Gannon (Philadelphia) and Eric Biniemi (Kansas City) on Sunday and Kevin O’Connell (LA Rams) on Monday.
It is believed that Paton prefers to give all interviews in person.
With the 13-4 Packers only having a first-round NFC farewell, Getsy and Hackett could face interested teams. On Friday, Hackett was interviewed by Jacksonville and will also face Chicago on Saturday.
Packers coach Matt Lafleur told reporters Wednesday that Ghetsy has done an “outstanding job.”
The Packers made the playoffs in six of Gatsy’s seven years with the team.
Getsy began his college career as a quarterback for Pittsburgh before moving to Akron. In 2005-06, he set 24 individual high school records and led the Mid-American Conference with 3,455 passing yards. He scored 41 touchdowns in two seasons.
Getsy began his coaching career in 2007–08 as an alumnus assistant at Akron under coach Joe Moorehead. From there, he was offensive coordinator at West Virginia Wesleyan (’09), graduate assistant at Pittsburgh (’10), offensive coordinator at Indiana University at Pennsylvania (2011-12), and receivers coach at Western Michigan (’13).
Packers coach Mike McCarthy brought Getsy to the NFL as a quality control coach in 2014. Two years later, he promoted Getsy to receivers coach, and Geordie Nelson, Davante Adams and Randall Cobb had at least 60 catches and 600 yards.
“My goal (as a new coach) at the beginning was just to let them know that I was ready to do anything to help them get better, and at the same time, I would love them too,” Gatsy said. v Jackson (Miss) Clarion-Ledger in 2018.
Getsy left Green Bay after the 2017 season to join Moorehead at Mississippi State as offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach. Moorehead named the plays.
A year later, Getsy returned to Green Bay as LaFleur’s quarterback coach.
“He’s a great communicator, a great teacher, a great team guy,” Lafleur told reporters. “I think he sees the game right away. He has such a beautiful presence. The players are responding to him, so this is a great opportunity for him (to interview the Broncos) and another guy that we don’t want to lose, but would love for him and his family.”
Going from coach to head coach is rare, but it worked for Philadelphia when it hired Packers quarterbacks coach Andy Reed in 1999, and it worked for Taylor, who also interviewed the Broncos in January 2019 at Cincinnati.
An additional aspect of the Getsy interview: The Broncos might be interested in him as a new offensive coordinator if they hired a defensively oriented coach.
Rodgers told reporters Thursday that Ghetsy, who is also a passing coordinator, “has a lot of energy.”
In his three years on the job, Getsy Rogers leads the NFL with 111 touchdown passes and ranks second with a passer rating of 109.2. He is favored to win his fourth league MVP award.
“(Getsy) has all the qualities you look for when you think of a leader,” Lafleur said. “Do I think he is ready (to be a head coach)? Absolutely.”
Simmons is honored. Broncos safety Justin Simmons was named second-team All-Pro on Friday, becoming the third quarterback in franchise history to win multiple All-Pro honors with the team (Steve Atwater and Billy Thompson).
In a vote of 50, Tennessee’s Kevin Byard (41) and Buffalo’s Jordan Poyer (12) were named First Team. Simmons’ 10 votes were tied with Budda Baker of Arizona and Micah Hyde of Buffalo.
Simmons set a career high with five interceptions and 80 tackles in 17 games. In 2019, he was named second-team All-Pro.
The only other Broncos player to receive a vote was player Sam Martin (one).
