The Broncos Pass Game Coordinator Jim Leonhard-What to Expect from the Denver Broncos Pass Defense
Jim Leonhard has been hired by the Broncos to be their pass game coordinator. The Broncos struggled on defense last year, giving up 24.3 points per game and were 27th in scoring defense. They were also 29th in yards allowed per game but interestingly 2nd in the league in 3rd down efficiency. They were also poor against the run, finishing 30th, but did finish the season strong, only allowing 91 rushing yards per game. So that being said, how does adding Jim Leonhard as pass game coordinator effect the Broncos.
Jim Leonhard is one of the best defensive minds in football. His defenses are usually very efficient and tops in the country. This was evident when he was at Wisconsin. Let’s look at what he’s done at the college level and the success that he has had. He will be partnering with Vance Joseph to bring an exciting defense to the Denver Broncos. Although only the pass game coordinator, I expect Leonhard to have a major influence on Joseph is some of the schemes they come up with.
I’m curious how they are going to workout for a few schematic reasons.
Both are a 3-4 front but their foundation is quite different. Leonhard lives in a simulated pressure world and Joseph is more traditional in his defensive approach.
Less inside pressure from the 3-4 and more standard drop of either OLB on base downs.
Where Leonhard would bring an Inside LB more often in his simulated pressures and drop both DE often.
Here’s an example from Vance’s Defense.
Vance played a lot of penny front vs 11 p and Leonhard was more 4-2 vs 11 personnel. Curious how this philosophy works together. Although as the season went on the Broncos went a lot more 5 DB overall. The 2nd half of the year saw them playing Nickel on 70% of the time and playing much more zone. They changed from a system in which they played a lot of cover 1 and went more zone the 2nd half.They adjusted due to their poor corner play and were 78% zone later in the year.
As stated above, the Broncos played 3 DL and 3 LB often, as opposed to the 4-2-5 nickel look Leonhard played at Wisconsin. Vance did play some 4-2 and some sim pressures when he got to his nickel look but not as much as Jim at Wisconsin.
When you live in a penny world you have a tendency to be more single high with man free and cover 3 concepts.****Will get to 3rd down in the next article
A little about the Scheme of his defense:
2021 #1 defense in the country in yards per play
2021 #4 defense in scoring 16 ppg
2021 #3 defense in 3rd down % 27.8 efficiency
2021 #1 in rushing 1st downs allowed 55, next closest team was 69, and #1 overall in 1st downs allowed
Coach Leonhard did an outstanding job at Wisconsin and has worked with some of the best minds in football. Hopefully, you will see some of these schemes when the Broncos play in 2024. They share a similar belief in Coach Joseph’s base structure and the 3-4 base look Leonhard used.
As a player, Leonard has some of his roots from Rex Ryan, being a standout with Rex with the Jets, Bills and Ravens, as Leonhard seemed to be someone that went with Rex wherever he ended up coaching. Much of his 3-4 comes from the Pettine and Rex Defense with the Ravens and Jets.
As a coach he ended up working with Dave Aranda for 2 years at Wisconsin and Justin Wilcox. Wilcox is not as big a name as Aranda but left after 1 year to take the job at Cal. Both of these guys led great defenses at Wisconsin before moving on. I see various similarities between Leonard and Aranda in their scheme as both love zone 4 man simulated & creeper pressures with often bringing a LB and dropping a Defensive end as part of his base package.
The reason he does this it is a safe way of blitzing. It gives the allusion of more pressure, but often forces an offense to keep a RB in protection. He will not give up coverage on the back end to recklessly blitz and rarely plays cover 0. Most of his pressures are 4 or 5 man for the most part. It has been very effective for Coach Leonhard at Wisconsin.
He will often match personnel groupings as a defensive coordinator. What that means is he plays primarily two front structures on early downs. When he gets 2 tight ends or 21 personnel, he will be in a 3-4 base look. 3 defensive lineman, 2 OLB and 2 ILB. He did this in his years at Wisconsin. When he gets 11 or 10 personnel, he will implement his 4-2-5 nickel defense. Those are what you primarily saw at Wisconsin.
Let’s look at a few games from the 21 season when his defense was tops in the country.
VS Notre Dame
The score was no where near indicative of the game. Notre Dame struggled offensively throughout the game, only rushing for 3 yards on the day. They scored 21 points in other areas, 2 on defense and 1 on a kickoff return. The Wisconsin defense played very well, giving up 20 points on the day.
Coach Leonhard ran 30/34 simulated pressures vs Notre Dame on Early Downs. That is only on 1st and 2nd down. That is an awful lot of creeper/sim pressures with bringing a LB from depth and dropping DE. But is a big part of what he does and makes him successful. It forced Notre Dame to keep their RB in pass protection as they only released him 4x. That may not seem like a big deal, but it kept the RB in against 7 man coverages which was a key factor in holding Notre Dame and Coen to 5.4 yards per reception and 15/29 passing for 158 yards.
Drew Pyne actually came in was 8/10 and moved the offense efficiently after Coen was injured in the 3rd quarter.
Fronts on Early downs
vs 21/12 personnel
You will often see him play a 3-4 on early downs vs 12 personnel. Often from 2 4i's
Here are 2 examples vs Notre Dame vs 12.
The first is vs 12 balanced formation. They play it straight as Notre Dame is balanced with 1 te on each side and are 2x2. They bring the safety down to the passing strength h off and play cover 3.
In example #2, Leonhard goes 3-4 vs Notre Dame but walk one outside LB out vs the twins set. Still no change as they are still 3-4
Here it is again vs 12
The defense is in a true 3-4 structure.
Sometimes with 12 you will see them shift the Linebackers. vs 3x1 they will sometime shift the linebackers like they did vs Michigan. Here's the front with a few examples. They bring the safety down and play a stack look. The mike and Will stack to the strong side. Michigan is in 12 balanced.
In the next example, its 12 personnel with twins opposite the tight end wing.
You can see them slide the lb's to a stack look to the tight end side with the ss playing off #2 to the twins side. They have every gap covered.
They end up bringing the mike linebacker and dropping the de opposite the pressure. The drop end is a flat defender with the ss playing curl. They are in cover 1 with the cb over to the twins side with the safety in run support to the te wing side.
Depending on the call the nose will play a gap either to the side of the play or half man behind vs zone. Here they send the mike to the tight end wing. You can see the olb drop underneath and they play cover 3.
The olb does a nice job getting in the passing lane.
From the end zone view but you see the DE get right in the passing lane on the right.
The QB wants to throw the rpo to #2 but it is defended and he ends up forcing it to #1 and it is nicely defended and incomplete. See it below.
Another example vs Michigan, Michigan goes x over again, this time both wr are eligible. They adjust play man to the 2wr side and bring the cb over again. Nice defensive scheme and alignment is sound. They adjust their lb in the 3-4 to matchup vs certain formations.
On the snap unbalanced zone
Gao responsibilities are solid
Do a great job with the DE boxing it hard and not much run lanes on the front side. They are plus 1 on the weakside with the LB scraping over the top.
LB keeps leverage for the cutback.
vs 11
They will often go nickel and play their 4-2-5 front vs it. They can still play a 3-4 vs it but seem more comfortable in their nickel alignment.
In the picture below
It appears they are single gap with the D Line and 2 gap with the LB.
LDE D Gap. LILB-Ball to-C Gap, ball away, near A, RILB-B gap to, off a way and RDE play C Gap.
vs 11 you see the 4-2 2 shell pre snap.
Simulated Pressures
A simulated pressure is when you send a LB and drop a DE into coverage from a basic defensive front that isn't showing pressure. These are easy to recognize on film vs pass as the DE drops. They are less obvious against the run because the DE won't drop and will play the run.
This is a staple of the Wisconsin Defense. They can play it with zone coverage, man coverage or combination coverage. They made a living doing this.
2 coverages you will see quite often with the sim 4 man pressures are 3 weak and 3 strong. In this system you have the flexibility to play whatever you want to play.
3 weak
Only 4 rushers
Mike Coming with the OLB 41 dropping.
Nose beats the Double LB comes clean
3 strong Concept
Becomes 3 under 3 deep
OLB plays the flat
Pressure gets home and forces bad throw. Wheel doesn't get a chance to develop.
Film Clips below!
These are just some of the concepts Leonhard played with Wisconsin. I expect to see some of these when he partners with Vance Joseph in 2024 with the new look Broncos defense.