Sean Payton’s first Broncos coaching staff had mostly been unveiled when news of a late addition with a unique background and unique title emerged.
That’s Jamar Cain, the longtime college coach who joined the Denver staff in late March as the team’s pass-rush specialist.
His job: Pretty straightforward, as the title implies.
The way he fits into the picture, of course, is more about communication and structure considering the Broncos have a defensive line coach, outside and inside linebackers coaches and a senior defensive assistant in Joe Vitt all working with the front seven in addition to coordinator Vance Joseph.
But Payton had a clear idea of what he wants out of Cain, who spent 2022 as the defensive line coach and run game coordinator at LSU after two seasons at Oklahoma. The title may not be particularly common in the NFL, the task is.
“We can call them assistant defensive line (coaches),” Payton said. “When you get deeper into recruiting (a coach), now we need something a little bit sexier, so we call them ‘pass rush specialists.’
“… When you’re playing the front we play, there are a lot of bodies there,” Payton said. “Jamar, Marcus and those guys along with Michael Wilhoite, who coaches the outside linebackers – everything else is pretty clean.
“Jamar is someone that’s highly regarded, and we’re glad to have him.”
The importance of harassing quarterbacks can hardly be overstated in the NFL. During minicamp, Payton said he liked the number of “pressure players” on the roster, particularly after the addition of three-time Pro Bowler Frank Clark in free agency.
Cain will be an integral part of trying to get the most out of those players.
“If you lack those traits in your lineup, then you are forced to create pressure by scheme,” Payton said. “Then, you get into a whole other game.”
The Broncos saw both sides of the coin in 2022, with a prolific pass-rushing group the first half of the season and a paltry one down the stretch due to injuries to Randy Gregory and Baron Browning and the November trade of Bradley Chubb to Miami.
Denver racked up 24 sacks and 10.4 pressures per game, per Pro Football Reference, over the season’s first eight games (pre-Chubb trade), then mustered just 12 and 4.9 per game, respectively, over the final nine.
No surprise, then, that Payton made sure to deploy plenty of resources to getting after the quarterback.
“I love working with Jamar,” second-year defensive lineman Matt Henningsen told The Post. “He knows what he’s doing, he’s an intelligent guy and he’s been around football for a long time. He knows how to pass-rush. He’s helped me already a lot with my footwork and understanding how to move and get quicker around these offensive linemen.
“It’s great having him around and he’s been very helpful so far.”
Cain’s two years at Oklahoma may be particularly useful now in Denver because he worked closely with second-year Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto at the school. A big second-year jump from Bonitto would be a welcome development for the Broncos after he showed flashes of potential in 2022 but finished his rookie year with a long list of things to work on.
“It’s been good because he works with me and Wilhoite,” Dixon told The Post. “He has a lot of expertise and things he’s done. He’s coached for a very long time and he’s hungry and wants to still learn as well, just like all of us.”
Before OU, Cain worked at eight different colleges, working his way from Sacramento City College (2004) up the ranks through the FCS and Group of Five steadily. Now he’s in the NFL for the first time and working to provide his pupils with advice that results in pressures, hits, sacks and wins.
“It’s just a great mix with him with his stuff that he does pass-rush wise, stuff that I’ve done pass-rush wise, stuff that Wilhoite does pass-rush wise,” Dixon said. “So we’ve got three guys working on pass-rush, essentially. It’s just great.”
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