Polian: Broncos should focus on hiring the ‘best head coach’

For all the complications and intricacies of not only coaching an NFL team but finding a head coach, the Denver Broncos might be best served to focus on the job title itself.

“In the end — I bet you a half-dozen owners have talked to me about this over the past two years, and my response is always the same — get the guy that you believe is going to be the best head coach,” ESPN analyst and former NFL executive Bill Polian told “Schlereth and Evans” on Monday.

It sounds overly simple. Hiring the “best head coach” almost seems like a given.

But what Polian was getting at is that the broncos aren’t hiring a coach to run the defense or the offense but instead someone who can manage the team as a whole.

“You’re not hiring an offensive or defensive coordinator. You’re hiring a head coach. And those job descriptions are very different,” Polian said.

The three candidates the Broncos interviewed for the job include someone from each phase of the game — Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, and Kansas City Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub.

All three bring a background on a specific side of the ball, but Polian said the best candidate should be one who can add his expertise at times but trust his coordinators also.

“What you want is the best head coach, the guy who’s going to see the big picture. The guy who’s going to be able to manage both sides of the ball. The guy who’s going to be able to manage the game,” Polian said. “The guy who’s going to be able to go into both or all three rooms and sit there and have expertise and yet be able to trust the guy that he hires.”

And if Denver’s hire happens to be someone who isn’t one with experience in with the offense, a phase the Broncos struggled mightily with in 2016, Polian said it’s imperative to bring in someone to take responsibility of running that unit off the head coach’s plate.

“Now if you have an offense that’s sputtering, as the Broncos are, then what you want to do in that situation is make sure that if you’re hiring a guy who’s not an offensive guy and isn’t married to an offensive system, he’s bringing a coordinator that is capable of carrying that load,” Polian said. “That’s what you need to find out.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.