Broncos officially announce the hirings of Pete Carmichael and Jim Leonhard

The Broncos officially announced the hirings of Pete Carmichael and Jim Leonhard today.

The Denver Broncos officially announced that they have hired Pete Carmichael and Jim Leonhard to their coaching staff. Carmichael has been named a Senior Offensive Assistant while Leonhard has been named as the Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs coach.

It was reported a few weeks back that the former longtime Saints coach who served as Sean Payton’s offensive coordinator for 12 seasons was expected to join the Broncos staff and now it’s official.

Carmichael has been part of the Saints coaching staff since Sean Payton hired him as a quarterback’s coach to coach up the newly signed Drew Brees back in 2006. A year later, he elevated himself to quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator until he took over as offensive coordinator in 2009 and held that role through 2023. Carmichael was fired by the Saints a few weeks back and now he will reunite with Sean Payton and join his staff on the Denver Broncos.

Under Carmichael last season, the Saints ranked 9th in scoring offense, 14th in total offense, 11th in passing yards, 21st in rushing offense, 15th in 3rd down efficiency, and 18th in red zone efficiency

As for Leonhard, it was reported recently that he was hired to join the Broncos defensive coaching staff and help replace Christian Parker who left to join Vic Fangio’s staff with the Eagles. Like Carmichael, this hiring is now official and gives the Broncos an up-and-coming coach who is well-respected in the coaching ranks.

Leonhard, a former undrafted free agent played in the league from 2005 to 2014. During that span, he played for the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. He had 431 career tackles, 4.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 14 interceptions, and 1 defensive touchdown. After his playing career, he jumped into the coaching ranks at Wisconsin and was their defensive backs coach. He served as the Wisconsin defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2022 and served as Wisconsin’s interim head coach in 2022 as well. This past season, Leonhard served as a Senior football analyst for Illinois. Now, he will make his coaching debut in the NFL as the Denver Broncos Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs coach.

The 41-year-old coach will be replacing Christian Parker who left the Broncos recently to join Vic Fangio’s coaching staff with the Philadelphia Eagles. He has big shoes to fill because Parker is viewed as an up-and-coming coach, a future defensive coordinator, and was responsible for the development of many of the Broncos’ secondary players during his time with the team.

Now, with Carmichael and Leonhard officially hired, the only remaining coaching move left is to replace former defensive line coach Marcus Dixon who left to join the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff last week. I would them to announce his replacement here in the coming days and weeks.