Jim Harbaugh is staying at Michigan and the draft capital to get Sean Payton out of his Saints contract could be steep for anybody, especially pick-strapped Denver.
Enter Dan Quinn, a veteran coach who has been to the Super Bowl and interviewed last year for the Broncos’ vacancy, only to be passed over in favor of Nathaniel Hackett. Quinn interviewed again with the Broncos on Friday in the Dallas area.
The Cowboys’ defensive coordinator is considered a strong candidate for the job. He has 20 years of experience coaching in the NFL, including six as head coach of the Falcons. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones understands why Quinn is garnering interest once again.
“We think the world of Dan Quinn and we all understand the contribution that he’s made (on consecutive 12-5 playoff teams),” Jones said last week on Audacy’s 105.3 The Fan. “It doesn’t surprise me that (the Broncos) are interviewing him.”
Quinn, 52, no doubt had some quality film to show off in his interview Friday, coming off Dallas’ 31-14 thrashing of Tampa Bay in Monday’s wild-card round. Quinn’s defense shut out Tom Brady in the first half of a playoff game for the first time since the quarterback’s postseason debut in 2002.
Overall the Cowboys’ defense ranked fifth in the NFL at 20.1 points allowed per game during the regular season. Dallas ranked 22nd against the run (129.3 yards per game) and eighth against the pass (200.9) and led the league with 33 takeaways.
Quinn, a native of Orange, New Jersey, began his career as a defensive line coach at William & Mary in 1994. He then coached at Hofstra, rising to the title of defensive coordinator in 2000, before jumping to the NFL the next season as a defensive quality control assistant with San Francisco. He coached the D-line for the 49ers, Dolphins, Jets and Seahawks, took a two-year stint back in college with Florida State, then returned to Seattle as the defensive coordinator in 2013-14.
Quinn’s head coaching tenure with the Falcons from 2015-20 was highlighted by an appearance in Super Bowl LI, when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead to Brady and the Patriots. The Falcons lost 34-28 in overtime, squandering the largest lead in Super Bowl history. Atlanta made the playoffs again the next season but lost in the divisional round. After going 7-9 in 2018 and ’19, Quinn was fired following an 0-5 start in 2020. In addition to being passed over for the Broncos’ head gig last year, Quinn also was passed over for the Bears’ job.
Quinn has options again this season. In addition to interviewing for the Broncos’ job, he’s a candidate for Indianapolis’ head coaching position, as well. He told reporters in Dallas on Friday that he’s focused on Sunday’s NFC Divisional round game against San Francisco and that he did most of his head coaching interview prep in the offseason.
“What I did through the spring and through the summer, that’s where I did all of my preparation,” Quinn said. “I actually have done this a few times before. I’ve interviewed during the playoffs in my time with Seattle, so that experience helped me make sure my process better be straight and organized. In the spring and summer, I planned for us to be in the playoffs, so I planned for these conversations if I was fortunate enough to have them. I didn’t want to have to do anything differently.
“Respectfully, I’d like to focus on the game and hope you guys understand that. Doing the work early, like most things, allows you to really feel relaxed so you don’t have to do anything different.”
Quinn is the final of Denver’s eight first-round interviews. The Broncos have seven candidates at present with Harbaugh out of the running. Denver’s search committee, led by CEO Greg Penner, could jump right to selecting the next coach but more likely will invite either a finalist or a small group of finalists to Denver for second-round interviews in the coming days.
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