The first two known members of Sean Payton’s coaching staff are joining him from New Orleans.
Payton and the Broncos are hiring Saints offensive assistant Declan Doyle as tight ends coach, a source confirmed Wednesday to The Post. Doyle spent the past four seasons as an assistant with New Orleans — including three on staff with Payton — and will now have a full-position group of his own for the first time.
That is a similar track as new Denver offensive line coach Zach Strief, who spent two years as the assistant offensive line coach in New Orleans after a decade-plus playing career.
The way the offensive side of the ball is shaping up, in particular, is toward coaches who have a history with Payton.
Among the known offensive coordinator candidates is New Orleans quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Ronald Curry. It is also possible Payton could look to longtime staffer Joe Lombardi, who coached 12 years in New Orleans with Payton and who was fired recently as the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator.
The only offensive coach from Denver’s 2022 staff who is still in the mix to potentially coach with Payton in 2023 is wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni, though he also has interest from the New York Jets and interviewed with Buffalo before that franchise reportedly decided to hire Adam Henry as its receivers coach Wednesday.
Doyle recently coached tight ends for the American Team at the Senior Bowl and said in an interview with a Saints team reporter that being an offensive assistant means, “you kind of do everything.”
“It’s a lot of the stuff that people don’t want to do,” he said. “Drawing for the playbook or running the scout teams or assistant with the tight end position. Just stuff that comes up on a daily basis. Projects that will come up that (offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael) wants to work on. … You kind of have to manage your time and be able to handle all these different things that you juggle.”
If Payton is to further mine his connections from the Saints, another name to monitor is former New Orleans strength-and-conditioning coach Dan Dalrymple. In fact, not many coaches go back further with Payton that Dalrymple, who was the Saints’ strength coach from the time Payton first arrived with the franchise. Before that, he worked for Miami (Ohio), where Payton worked under head coach Randy Walker in 1994 and 1995. Dalrymple left the Saints after the 2021 season when Payton stepped down as head coach.
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