Broncos' DC Ejiro Evero Opted to Keep This Vic Fangio Doctrine in Place
Denver Broncos training camp gains the most headlines for its splashy plays or even the occasional teammate-on-teammate dust-up, but the importance of the coaching staff having time to teach its players can't be underestimated, especially when it comes to the bigger picture.
Mastering the finer details might go largely unnoticed by most, but that won't bother the Broncos' new coaching staff — or distract them from achieving their goals.
Head coach Nathaniel Hackett has always prioritized his staff being the teachers and the players being the pupils. That mission statement has hit the mark with first-year defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who is doing all he can to communicate clearly and concisely with his troops.
That's led to Evero opting to keep in place much of the older terminology the defense was using under Vic Fangio before his arrival. Denver's new defensive czar explained why over the weekend.
“We’re teachers, and at the end of the day as coaches, we want to make it as easy as possible for the guys,” Evero said on Saturday following practice. “We want them to be able to go out there and play fast. There are a lot of things obviously that we want to have, like a system that is methodical and makes sense to guys.”
Evero understands that simplicity is the best option, and that by putting the onus on himself to learn the terminology, it can pay some early dividends for the players, and thus, the Broncos.
“There’s a lot of things terminology-wise that were similar and there’s some things that were different,” Evero said. “I feel like I can always learn, and I can do the extra work if I need to, to make sure I understand the concepts and some of the terminology. It’s always about the players and making it as easy as possible for them. So that’s always the starting point.”
It's becoming a hallmark of Hackett’s new staff, that hard work will not be balked at, and setting the tone is essential. With the players getting a day off on Sunday, Hackett explained how the time would be used to reevaluate exactly where the Broncos stand developmentally, especially when it comes to the ongoing process of offensive and defensive installations.
“It’s just about evaluating what we did today,” Hackett said after Saturday’s practice. “Today was another install. What’s great is that we have a chance now to review on Monday. There’s no new install going in right now. You get to recap and look at everything that we’ve been doing and revisit some things that we might want to adjust or tweak and see how the guys work with that. Really, we just want to have another good practice and just keep grinding.”
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