KUSA – You bet the Broncos are happy for Vance Joseph.
The Broncos’ head coach until he was fired 11 days ago, Joseph has been hired by the Arizona Cardinals as defensive coordinator, the Cardinals announced Friday.
The Broncos, meanwhile, replaced Joseph by officially hiring Vic Fangio as head coach on Thursday.
So why are the Broncos happy for Joseph? He figures to make anywhere from $1 million to $2 million a year as a defensive coordinator – and given his experience as a previous coordinator and head coach, Arizona should pay him closer to $2 million per year.
Whatever Arizona does pay him offsets the estimated $8 million the Broncos still had to pay Joseph for the final two years of his head coaching contract. Thanks to the Cardinals hiring Joseph, the Broncos will save anywhere from $2 million to $4 million.
Joseph interviewed with the Cardinals on Thursday, while Joe Woods was to interview with the team today for their defensive backs position, a source told 9News. Woods was Joseph’s defensive coordinator with the Broncos the past two seasons.
It’s easy to understand Arizona’s attraction to Joseph and Woods. The Broncos trounced the Cardinals, 45-10, in week 7 last season thanks in part to pick sixes by Todd Davis and Chris Harris Jr.
Joseph and Woods are also veteran NFL coaches who can help new Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury in his transition from college to the NFL. Kingsbury was 35-40 in six seasons at Texas Tech, despite averaging 37.8 points per game.
With Arizona investing a first-round draft pick in quarterback Josh Rosen last year, Kingsbury was hired to develop that investment.
Meanwhile, Joseph with the possible help of Woods can fix the Cardinals’ defense that ranked 26th in scoring last season. The Cardinals have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and most early mock projects have Joseph getting his pick of the best defensive player.
