The Broncos’ head coaching search appears to be narrowing quickly.
Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn dropped out of contention Thursday to return to the Cowboys for a third season working with head coach Mike McCarthy. Last week, Jim Harbaugh pulled out to stay at Michigan.
Four other candidates, if not formally eliminated, are well down Denver’s top set of options, according to league sources. Those are defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, former Detroit and Indianapolis head coach Jim Caldwell, former Stanford head coach David Shaw and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
That leaves San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton as potential contenders, though a second interview has not been set up with either. Such a meeting with Ryans would have to wait until after the 49ers play Philadelphia in Sunday’s NFC Championship game. Payton, on the other hand, could have been invited to Denver any time this week but has not been. He met with Carolina on Monday — the Panthers have since hired former Colts head coach Frank Reich — and had an interview scheduled with Arizona on Thursday.
The Broncos’ search committee, led by CEO Greg Penner, does not necessarily have to conduct a second round of interviews before making an offer.
Payton on Thursday batted down a Washington Post report that he had an issue with a member of Denver’s ownership group, saying on Twitter, “Zero truth to this. We had a great visit and (the Broncos’) Ownership was fantastic!!”
It is unclear at this point what Payton’s market is beyond a potential match with Denver or perhaps Arizona. Ryans, on the other hand, has also interviewed with Houston, where he played the first six years of his career (2006-11) and became one of the most revered players in franchise history.
Several outlets, including Sports Illustrated, have pegged Ryans and Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as candidates for the Texans job. Gannon, who also coaches Sunday, interviewed with Houston twice last year before the Texans hired Lovie Smith and has connections to general manager Nick Caserio. Evero has also spoken with the Texans twice.
Quinn was considered a strong candidate in Denver because he interviewed for the job a year ago and was a finalist before Nathaniel Hackett ultimately got the job.
The combination of his return to Dallas, the number of other candidates sources believe to be further down the Broncos’ list and the conflicting information regarding Payton’s candidacy that has percolated throughout the week all give Ryans the appearance of a strong candidate to get the Broncos’ job.
The Broncos may not be the only team that considers him a top contender and it’s possible they’ll end up re-visiting their list either by choice or out of necessity, but a week without formal second interviews has not prevented Penner and company from whittling down their top choices.
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