Report: Matt Patricia joins Denver Broncos’ defensive coordinator search

Another former NFL head coach has entered the Broncos’ defensive-coordinator mix.

Wednesday, the Broncos interviewed ex-Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Patricia joins Rex Ryan and Vance Joseph as former head coaches in the mix to become Sean Payton’s first Broncos defensive coordinator. Seahawks assistant Sean Desai and ex-Saints assistant coach Kris Richard also interviewed for the position.

The #Broncos spent today with an intriguing candidate for their vacant defense coordinator job: Matt Patricia. Sources tell me and @TomPelissero the former #Patriots assistant is in Denver speaking with Sean Payton today. Rex Ryan and Vance Joseph are also top candidates.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 22, 2023

Patricia’s Lions head-coaching tenure was unsuccessful.

He inherited a team that had three winning seasons in four years under Jim Caldwell and guided it to a 13-29-1 record before the Lions fired him 11 games into the 2020 season. From there, Patricia returned to New England as a senior advisor.

Patricia has 16 years of assistant-coaching experience in the NFL. All of it is with New England. That alone makes Patricia’s emergence as a candidate a surprise.

But if he joins the Broncos, it would allow him to get back to what he does best.

Last year, Patricia was involved with play calling on the offensive side for the Patriots. Nee England finished 26th in total offense — its second-worst ranking in the last 30 seasons. Patricia served six seasons as New England’s defensive coordinator. During those years, the Patriots ranked in the NFL’s top 7 in scoring defense four times. In his final three seasons as Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator, New England ranked seventh, third and fifth in scoring defense before taking the Lions job.

Like erstwhile offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, Patricia is fond of the pencil. A pencil behind Patricia’s ear is his visual signature. But unlike with Shurmur, the pencil has a pragmatic origin for Patricia, as he matriculated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a renowned engineering school in Troy, N.Y.

“I’m actually an engineer by trade, a lot of mechanical pencils through college and all that stuff,” he told the Houston Chronicle prior to Super Bowl LI. “I just found, through doing those drawings, the good old, basic pencil.

“You can sharpen it really nice and just get that right deal. I just wound up carrying it around all the time. We’re always writing stuff, always drawing, always going. It’s just one of those things where I’m saying, ‘Oh, I have to write that down,’ and I know where it is at all times.”

That spot is behind his ear. And now Patricia — and his pencils — could be in the mix to join Payton and the Broncos.

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