Sean Payton's Broncos hire former HC Vance Joseph as new DC

Sean Payton has added one of the final pieces to his coaching puzzle. The new head coach signed with the Denver Broncos earlier this off-season and has added former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph to run the defense.

The Broncos had one of the league's best units on defense last season and now have a familiar face guiding them for the foreseeable future, according to Adam Schefter.

Schefter tweeted:

"Former Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph is returning to Denver as the team’s new defensive coordinator, as [Peter Schrager] also reported. He will run the Broncos defense for HC Sean Payton."

This comes after former Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero left for the same position with the Carolina Panthers. He joins Frank Reich's staff there, but left a hole in Sean Payton's new staff.

Payton elected to fill it with a former Broncos coach in Joseph, who spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons with the team.

---

Sean Payton trade: How much did the Broncos spend to get former Saints head coach?

The Denver Broncos are quietly assembling a very strong coaching cast after everything went awry for them in 2022. They had hired Nathaniel Hackett to pair with Russell Wilson, but that was a disaster.

Now, they're bringing in one of the best coaches in his era in Payton, but it's not without a cost.

Denver Broncos Introduce Sean Payton as Head Coach

Since Payton retired from coaching the Saints, they still had his coaching rights. As a result, the Broncos had to trade for those rights.

All told, Denver sent its 2023 first-round pick that they had from San Francisco (No. 30 overall) and a 2024 second-round pick to the Saints for the coach and their 2024 third-round pick.

In total, the Broncos have sunk immeasurable costs into the pairing of Wilson and Payton. They had to trade for both, which has left them nearly entirely depleted, and signed both to new contracts.

Wilson's contract was absurdly high and it occurred before he stepped foot on the field. If they had waited, they might not be in such bad shape for the future as Wilson looked like a genuine shell of himself.