Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase has been on the list of many head coaching vacancies in the NFL. He’s scheduled to meet with the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and Chicago Bears over the weekend. What Peyton Manning said and did during his time with the team may have significantly aided in the coordinator’s potential future.
Manning endorsed Gase on Wednesday and said that he talked to multiple teams at the end of the season last year that considered hiring the coordinator. He plans on doing the same thing again this year. From ESPN:
"“I don’t think you need me to sit up here and campaign for him, I guess,” Manning said. “Last year I talked to a couple teams on the behalf of him that reached out to me. That may happen again, so I’m certainly glad to share my thoughts, I mean it’s pretty well documented my thoughts on him because I don’t think he needs me to stand up here and campaign for him. I’m excited he has the opportunity he’s going to have this week. He deserves it, I think teams that he talks to will be impressed.”"
Just praising the coordinator isn’t the only thing Manning has done to catapult the offensive coordinator to multiple short lists. The quarterback’s play on the field, outside of just recent weeks, has been great since moving on from the Indianapolis Colts.
Since joining the Broncos back in 2012, the team has had 12 or more wins each season. Under Manning, they have an overall record of 38-10 in the regular season and are 2-2 in the playoffs. They have had a first-round bye in all three seasons and made it to the Super Bowl last year before getting destroyed by Seattle. Gase has had his hands on the offense in these last two years.
The biggest question on everyone’s mind is who plays a bigger role in the offense — Gase or Manning? Coordinators obviously have an important role in setting up schemes and plays, but Manning is notorious for audibles after seeing what the defense is giving him. Is Gase really good at calling plays or has it just benefited from Manning playing under center?
It’s an interesting debate, but one can’t discount Gate’s movement up the ladder. While he’s only ran the offense in the last two years, Gase has been involved with Denver since 2009 as a wide receivers and quarterbacks coach. His coaching history starts all the way back in 2000 when he was a graduate assistant at LSU. He’s worked under brilliant minds such as Nick Saban and Mike Martz.
Gase’s extensive history and high-octane offense with the Broncos backs up his head coaching candidacy. But it’s hard to imagine that he would be this highly-touted if it wasn’t for Manning being under center running the show. If Gase does get a head coaching job next season, we’ll see if he can run the show on his own.