With the Eagles job taken and the Jaguars showing no apparent interest in hiring him and the Cardinals highly unlikely to re-hire him, former Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt appears to be out of head-coaching options.
And so, according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Whisenhunt could be the next offensive coordinator in Denver.
It’s unclear whether Bowen is reporting the move as a done deal. He says he’s “hearing” it, which may or may not be some sort of journalistic safe harbor on Twitter.
Making the move a little surprising is that Whisenhunt will be working for free, unless the Broncos pay him more to be the offensive coordinator than the Cardinals were going to pay him to coach. (Not even the Cardinals are that cheap.)
But it’s a smart investment of his time. Whisenhunt already was likely to be on the list of coaching candidates in 2014; if the Broncos have another playoff season, Whisenhunt will be even more desirable. The only potential drawback is that the Broncos could play so deep into the 2013 postseason that no team will wait to hire him.
For that reason, Whisenhunt should consider asking for his official title to be “consultant,” which would allow him to take a head-coaching job elsewhere before Denver’s postseason run ends.
With quarterback Peyton Manning essentially running the show, the Broncos would likely be fine.