Don’t expect departures from Broncos staff over vaccinations

One former Denver Broncos assistant is reportedly out of a job as of Friday after choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Minnesota Vikings and assistant coach Rick Dennison — who not only played for the Broncos from 1982 to 1990 but won three Super Bowls with Denver as an assistant — have parted ways after he refused the vaccine, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.

All Tier 1 staff on NFL teams — including coaches, front-office executives, equipment managers and scouts — must be vaccinated by league policy.

Dennison’s departure is believed to be the first for an NFL position coach leaving his team after choosing not to receive a vaccine.

A league memo sent to the teams this summer outlined that any unvaccinated Tier 1 staff must provide valid religious or medical reasons for not receiving the vaccine. Those without Tier 1 status are prohibited from being on the field and in meeting rooms or having direct contact with players.

Phil Rauscher has been promoted from assistant offensive line coach to fill Dennison’s position as offensive line coach/run game coordinator, Cronin reports.

Similar issues shouldn’t be an factor for the Broncos this season, however, as during minicamp last month head coach Vic Fangio said the entire staff had been vaccinated.

As for the players, Fangio said at the time the roster would be somewhere in the high 60s to low 70s in terms of percent vaccinated by the end of minicamp.

“Maybe a little bit more. We’ve got about 61 guys that have started the process or are vaccinated. We’ve got a bunch of guys that have said they’re going to,” Fangio said. “It’s like college recruiting. There’s a lot of verbal commitments that don’t follow through. We’ll see (if) our verbal vaccinations follow through.”