Broncos Make it Official, Announce Pat Shurmur as new Offensive Coordinator
On Tuesday, the Denver Broncos announced Pat Shurmur as the team's new offensive coordinator. Two days removed from Rich Scangarello being shown the door, Shurmur was officially named as the replacement.
Shurmur traveled to Denver to meet with head coach Vic Fangio on Monday, after a deal in principle had been reached the evening before. Just a couple weeks removed from being fired as head coach of the New York Giants, Shurmur takes over the Broncos' offense with the fate of Drew Lock now resting in his hands.
What does Shurmur bring to the table? Here's a cursory glance at his NFL resume.
Deep NFL Roots
Shurmur is a 32-year coaching veteran with the last 21 years being spent in the NFL. He brings four years of head-coaching experience, two with the Giants and two with the Cleveland Browns (2011-12). Shurmur also served as the interim head coach in Philadelphia after the Eagles fired Chip Kelly in 2015.
Seven of his NFL seasons have been spent as an offensive coordinator. Shurmur has been part of nine playoff teams and seven Division champions. He also has coached in six Conference Championship games as well as Super Bowl XXXIX (2004 season).
Prolific Individual Production
One of Shurmur's bonafides is his track record working with quarterbacks and individual players. In that pursuit, he's coached 14 different offensive players that have combined for 23 Pro Bowl selections.
In the last 17 seasons, Shurmur has been the coaching impetus behind six different 3,000-yard passers, four 1,000-yard receivers and three 1,000-yard rushers. That's impressive.
During his two-year stint as the head coach in New York (2018-18), only five teams produced more big plays (20-plus yards) than the Giants. Under Shurmur, the Giants averaged 4.5 such plays per game.
In 2018, Shurmur helped the Giant's offense rank No. 4 in the league with 76 explosive plays (20-plus yards). QB Eli Manning produced one of his most efficient seasons, completing a career-best 66.0 percent of his passes while throwing for 21 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions.
RB Saquon Barkley finished 2018 as the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, eclipsing 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 15 total touchdowns, while WR Odell Beckham, Jr. topped 1,000 yards receiving in just 12 games played.
QB Whisperer
Of the utmost interest to the Broncos was the job Shurmur did coaching rookie QB Daniel Jones this past season. Jones would go on to start 12 of the 13 games he appeared in, totaling more than 3,000 yards passing, with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Jones had three different games of four passing touchdowns or more.
What landed Shurmur his second go-round as a head coach was the yeoman's work he did with the Minnesota Vikings, where he spent two years as offensive coordinator. However, he was Ooiginally hired as TEs Coach for the Vikings, but was elevated to offensive coordinator nine games into the 2016 season after Norv Turner suddenly resigned.
Broncos fans have Shurmur to thank for the money QB Case Keenum got in Denver. In 2017, Shurmur coached Keenum to his best season as a pro (3,547 yds., 22 TD, 7 INT), while also seeing WR Adam Thielen earn First-Team All-Pro honors (91 rec., 1,276 yds., 4 TD) and sending TE Kyle Rudolph to the Pro Bowl (57 rec., 532 yds., 8 TDs).
For his contribution to the Vikings winning 13 games and advancing to the NFC Title Game, Shurmur earned the A.P.'s Assistant Coach of the Year honors and the next step was to New York.
As an OC, Shurmur had a similar impact on the development of QB Nick Foles in Philadelphia four years earlier. Shurmur coached Foles to a Pro Bowl nod in the QB's second year, helping Foles to go 8-2 as a starter with 2,891 passing yards and a 27-to-2 TD-to-INT ratio. Shurmur spent three years as Chip Kelly's OC in Philadelphia.
An Andy Reid Disciple
Going back to before he got the head job in Cleveland, Shurmur spent 10 seasons as an assistant under Andy Reid in Philadelphia, coaching tight ends and offensive line from 1999-2001 and quarterbacks from 2002-08.
Shurmur served as QB Donovan McNabb's position coach for seven seasons, helping him to become a perennial Pro Bowler, while ranking fifth in the NFL in passing (241.9 ypg) from 2002-08. In the Eagles' 2004 Super Bowl-appearing season, McNabb became the first player in NFL history to throw for more than 30 touchdowns with fewer than 10 interceptions.
Shurmur is basically the antithesis to Scangarello. Whereas Scangarello is coming off his first season as an NFL offensive coordinator and just his sixth season coaching in the pros, Shurmur's roots run deep through two-plus decades.
Fangio can now turn the offense over to a coach he trusts implicitly. With Shurmur officially in the fold, Fangio is now the only head coach in NFL with two former head coaches as assistants (Mike Munchak, Tennessee).
The Broncos want to knock the Kansas City Chiefs off their perch as Division champs for four-straight seasons. If they're going to pull it off, the Broncos will need the offensive firepower to keep up with Patrick Mahomes and company. What better coach to spark the Broncos' offense than one of Andy Reid's most successful disciples?
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
