In hiring new coach Nathaniel Hackett, the Denver Broncos want to upgrade the offense without losing any of the potency of Vic Fangio's defense.
To that end, new defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero noted Tuesday that the scheme wouldn't be much different than what Fangio ran the past three seasons, with a base 3-4 scheme.
"There will be a lot of carryover from what these guys did last year, but at the end of the day. ... You've got to start with the evaluation of your players," Evero said, per the team's official website. "You've got to see who's on your roster, you've got to see what they do well, and the scheme has got to fit your players. You can't go the other way around with that. There will be a lot of carryover, and I think players will be familiar with a lot of what we're going to present to them. We're going to always [start] with player first and then move into the scheme."
Fangio's scheme has permeated the NFL in recent seasons, with clubs like Minnesota and Seattle hiring his former assistants to help better implement that style.
The Broncos have the pieces in the secondary led by Justin Simmons and Patrick Surtain II but need to upgrade the pass rush this offseason.
"You've got to affect the quarterback," Evero said. "If you can't get there with four (rushers), you've got to bring five. If you can't get there with five, you've got to bring six. So we'll bring pressure if we need to. That's just going to all depend on the rush. It's hard to say right now what exactly we're going to be.
"This is going to be a collaboration. It's going to be something that we're going to build starting today. Once we get the roster finalized and all that, then we're truly going to know ... what our identity's going to be in terms of coverages and pressure and the things that we're going to run. The great thing is, there's a lot of good coaches. I have a big background with a bunch of different people, so we've got a lot of things that we can fall back on and pull from, and we're going to take advantage of all that."
Denver ranked in the middle of the league with 36.0 sacks in 2021, led by Shelby Harris netting six. Bradley Chubb remains a question mark after playing seven games last season and earning no sacks.
Evero joins Denver after winning a Super Bowl in Los Angeles with Aaron Donald and former Bronco Von Miller. Now he hopes to bring that style to Mile High.
"We've got to be attacking the ball, and that's going to be a big point of our emphasis," Evero said. "We want to be situational masters. There's going to be all these situations, third down, red zone, two-minute -- we want to own and dominate those situations."
