Broncos reportedly interested in Dwayne Stukes for special teams coordinator

Broncos in mix for Rams assistant special teams coordinator

Now that Nathaniel Hackett is the Denver Broncos new head coach, the staff churn is underway. Mile High Report’s own A.J. Schulte predicted Nathaniel Hackett’s interest in Los Angeles Rams assistant special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes last week, and now 9News’ Mike Klis reported the Broncos are interested in Stukes to replace Tom McMahon as their special teams coordinator.

It’s worth noting that no team can hire Stukes until the Rams and Bengals play in the Super Bowl.

After he entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2000, Stukes bounced around the league until 2003 before he joined John Elway’s Colorado Crush in the now defunct Arena Football League. Stukes also played for the Berlin Thunder of the now defunct NFL Europe in 2001 and 2002, and it’s with the Thunder he got his start in coaching in 2006.

Stukes began his NFL coaching career after his stint in Europe with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He coached with the Bucs from 2006-2011, working his way up to special teams coordinator for that final season under Raheem Morris. The unit ranked 14th in the NFL by DVOA, but Stukes was fired along with Morris after the Bucs finished 4-12.

Stukes landed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2012 as a minority coaching intern. In 2013 he joined the Chicago Bears as their assistant special teams coordinator and coached there through 2014. During this time the Bears finished 11th and then 25th in special teams DVOA, and he was once again looking for work after the 2014 Bears finished 5-11.

After a year out of football, Stukes joined the New York Giants as an assistant special teams coordinator in 2016 and worked with them for two seasons under head coach Steve Spagnuolo. The Giants special teams finished 11th in DVOA in 2016 before they declined to the worst unit in the league in 2017. When Spags was replaced by Pat Shurmur in 2018 Stukes found himself out of work, and spent the season outside the NFL.

After spending two seasons as a defensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars under Doug Marrone, Stukes joined the Rams as their assistant special teams coordinator in 2021. L.A. finished the season with the fourth best special teams by DVOA.

Beyond the history and the numbers, I’m optimistic about Stukes for a couple of reasons. While it was more than a decade ago, it’s promising that the Bucs were pretty successful the only season he’s ever had a chance to call the shots on special teams, even if returner Preston Parker’s fumble issue could be cause for concern. It’s also hard to imagine any special teams coordinator gets away with four years with abysmal results like Tom McMahon did.