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According to 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis, the Broncos have fired Outside Linebacker’s coach Fred Pagac.
OLB coach Fred Pagac has been fired, per sources. Broncos just didn't get much edge pass rush this year without DeMarcus Ware. Shane Ray only 1 sack with injured wrist. Even Von Miller limited to 10 sacks. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) January 1, 2018
As Klis notes, the Broncos sack numbers were down greatly in 2017. They finished ranked 22nd in the league with 33 sacks by the Broncos defense.
Von Miller was limited to just 10 sacks, Shaquil Barrett had just 4 sacks, and Shane Ray just had 1 sack during his injury-plagued season in 2017. He also had issues with rookie defensive end turned linebacker DeMarcus Walker as well. So this firing makes some sense
The Broncos need better production from their edge rushers going forward. Having a pass rush makes everything else on the defense work better and that really lacked this past season.
Now, the Broncos offense factored into this of course. These guys were forced to play run defense instead of pinning their ears back and get after the quarterback, but still, there were issues.
Hopefully, the Broncos offense improves and gives their defense a lead and let Von Miller and Shaq Barrett pin their ears back and get after the quarterback more in 2018. Also, hopefully, Shane Ray can come back healthier and stronger to give the Broncos one of the better pass-rushing duos in the NFL.