This time, Vance Joseph could be the right man at the right time

This is more like how it was supposed to work.

When the Broncos hired Vance Joseph as head coach in 2017, there really wasn’t much to go on that indicated potential success as a head coach.

The organization sold him as a “leader of men.” Remember that phrase? Frankly, was the kind of thing you do when the resume is as thin as a promise, at least as far as head coaches go.

Indeed, “promise” was the biggest thing Joseph had in those days.

Joseph had just one season of experience as an NFL coordinator when he last joined the Broncos. And it wasn’t a particularly good one; Miami ranked 29th in total defense and 20th in defensive DVOA.

But Joseph had the connections — to departing head coach Gary Kubiak as a three-year assistant on his Houston staff, and to John Elway’s right-hand man, Matt Russell, as a former CU teammate from the program’s 1990s salad days and a graduate assistant under Gary Barnett around the turn of the century. And thus, the job was his.

No need to belabor those years. Joseph had some game-management snafus, particularly in the 2018 season. Discipline waned, which is a reason why Vic Fangio’s “death by inches” manta resonated, particularly with John Elway. Game-management issues contributed directly to a pair of 2018 defeats.

But Joseph was done no favors by quarterback selection. No benefits from a roster that had gradually gone hollow, lacking depth at key spots.

What we know now is different than what we knew then. Retrospection has that way of clarifying things. What we know now is that the Broncos weren’t in need of a “reboot,” and weren’t a few tweaks away from being right back in the Super Bowl groove. What we know now is that the team was aging with a gradually crumbling roster.

So, he went to Arizona as defensive coordinator in 2019. Talent was there for stretches of his years there: Budda Baker, Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt (when healthy), Jordan Hicks and the position-less Isaiah Simmons, who Joseph eventually learned how to maximize.

Still, the rankings don’t flatter Joseph in his five years as a defensive coordinator, including his single Dolphins season.

DEFENSIVE DVOA:

• 2016: 20
• 2019: 20
• 2020: 10
• 2021: 6
• 2022: 24

TOTAL DEFENSE:

• 2016: 29
• 2019: 32
• 2020: 13
• 2021: 11
• 2022: 21

SCORING DEFENSE:

• 2016: 18
• 2019: 28
• 2020: 12
• 2021: 11
• 2022: 31

The funny thing is, success under Sean Payton will likely propel Joseph to another shot. And I expect he’ll do much better, if he does.

But the reasons to hire Joseph go beyond the numbers and to his demeanor.

He’s hardened by experience. Listen to his press conferences as Arizona’s defensive coordinator. He speaks not as a deer in headlights, but more of a sage. He talks with the wisdom earned by experience — some of it awful.

Joseph chooses not to live with anger over what transpired in Denver, of an organization that made him the head coach but did nothing to temper public expectations to a more reasonable level for a team whose foundation needed more than just some patching of cracks to repair.

And for all the evidence you need, look no further than his return to Colorado today. That’s a mature perspective many of us struggle to find, myself included. Fortunately, Joseph has it.

Joseph isn’t Phillips or Vic Fangio as a tactician. But it took decades for them to get there.

Most defensive coordinators don’t reach their apex immediately; it takes years of tinkering, adjustment and adaptation. Joseph is further down that road than he was as Broncos head coach. And if he’s learned well from his past experiences, he can put together a defense that complements what Sean Payton wants to accomplish.

Just because Joseph wasn’t the right person in 2017 doesn’t mean he can’t be the right person today.

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