Darren Rizzi is officially on board
The Denver Broncos have officially hired Darren Rizzi as their new special teams coordinator, effectively replacing the duo of Mike Westhoff (retired during last season) and Ben Kotwica (fired after 2024 season). The addition of Rizzi is unquestionably one of the biggest non-head coaching hires made by any team this offseason as Rizzi is not only one of the best special teams coordinators in the NFL but one of the top assistant coaches in general.
And because of that, he's going to get a bit of a title boost in Denver.
According to the official release by the team, Rizzi is being hired by the Broncos as their special teams coordinator and assistant head coach.
Broncos clearly coveted Darren Rizzi as top coaching move of 2025
The Broncos have had quite the list of departures so far in the 2025 offseason on the coaching staff:
- Pass Game Coordinator John Morton: Detroit Lions OC
- TEs coach Declan Doyle: Chicago Bears OC
- David Shaw: Detroit Lions Pass Game Coordinator
- LBs coach Greg Manusky: Fired
- Special Teams Coordinator Ben Kotwica: Fired
- Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Chris Banjo: New York Jets STC
There has been a pretty big exodus of coaches for the Broncos this offseason for a team that wasn't having many guys poached at all prior to the arrival of head coach Sean Payton. As Payton has pointed out in the past, you should be more worried if nobody else wants to hire the coaches you have.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph also interviewed for multiple head coaching gigs and defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard also turned down multiple job opportunities elsewhere in order to stick around in Denver.
At this point, the hiring of Rizzi is the only big coaching addition we know of for the Broncos, but considering how these types of things have flown under the radar for the Broncos under Payton, that's not a surprise at all. It's possible the Broncos have a lot more going on behind the scenes than anyone knows or can report on at this point.
Why did the Broncos fire their special teams coordinator (Ben Kotwica) after last season? It's unknown exactly why it happened, but despite having an All-Pro return specialist in Marvin Mims for back-to-back years, the Broncos had a number of huge gaffes on special teams this past season that nearly cost them the playoffs and definitely cost them some momentum in the playoffs.
The blocked field goal against Kansas City exposed a weakness in the Broncos' field goal unit. There were a couple of games down the stretch against Cincinnati and Los Angeles in which the punting game really let Denver down, as well as the coverage units both on kickoff and punt coverage contributing to losing the field position battle.
The Broncos getting Rizzi is a massive pickup for this team and someone his players have consistently loved over the course of his coaching career. Sean Payton is all about the "hidden yardage" on special teams and details, and Rizzi will not only help on special teams but his game management skills are outstanding and he will be an asset as assistant head coach as well, more than just in a title.
