Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys are moving on to the second round of interviews for their defensive coordinator vacancy, and Broncos pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard has emerged as a top target. Here is a deep dive on Leonhard, his background as a coach, and what he would bring to the Dallas defense.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Leonhard played both quarterback and safety in high school before walking on at Wisconsin. Quickly becoming a starting safety, Leonhard was twice named to the First Team All-Big Ten team before his senior year, at which point he was finally put on scholarship.
After a stellar final year with the Badgers, Leonhard went undrafted in 2005 and landed with the Bills. There, he was the only undrafted rookie to make Buffalo’s roster. Injuries helped him start a handful of games towards the end of his third season, which preceded his signing in Baltimore.
There, Leonhard started 13 games and became acquainted with defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. A year later, when Ryan was named head coach of the Jets, he brought Leonhard with him as a free agent. Leonhard was a starter in that defense, which reached consecutive AFC Championship games, before injuries began to creep in.
Leonhard hung around a bit longer after his Jets stint, retiring after the 2014 season, and began his coaching career two years later as the defensive backs coach for his alma mater. After just one year in that role, Leonhard was promoted to defensive coordinator, a role he held for six seasons.
In 2022, when Wisconsin shocked the world by firing Paul Chryst after a 2-3 start, Leonhard was named the interim head coach. He went 4-3 the rest of the way, with two of those losses coming by one score, and seemed to have the inside track for the full-time gig. Then Wisconsin lured Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati, which prompted Leonhard’s departure.
After one season as an analyst at Illinois, Leonhard made the jump to the NFL, joining the Broncos as their pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach. Ahead of this season, he was also named assistant head coach.
Leonhard has only ever called plays at the college level, so it’s not exactly a guarantee he’d run the exact same defense he ran at Wisconsin. Still, the basic philosophy behind his defense remains the same. And the reality is his Badgers defense was built on flexibility anyway.
There are a few central tenets Leonhard believes in. He prioritizes multiplicity in the way his defense aligns themselves and wants to attack at all times. Whereas Eberflus wanted to be fairly passive and just prevent big plays, Leonhard strives to dictate the game to the offense.
On the front end of the defense, he does this primarily with stunts and simulated pressures. Leonhard is certainly no stranger to blitzes – the Broncos have been a fairly blitz-heavy team during his time there – but his time in Wisconsin was built on winning with four...
