Broncos Pro Bowlers laud Eagles DC Vic Fangio amid criticism out of Miami: ‘Philadelphia’s got a great one’

ORLANDO, Fla. — When new Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio took the Denver Broncos’ head coaching job back in 2019, safety Justin Simmons was going into the final year of his rookie deal, on the hunt for a breakout.

By the end of the season, Simmons posted what was then a career-high four interceptions, leading the team with 15 pass breakups. For the first time in his career, the Broncos’ 2016 third-round pick out of Boston College earned a second-team All-Pro nod. In the subsequent season with Fangio at the helm, Simmons was named to his first Pro Bowl roster. That newfound individual growth under Fangio, Simmons told The Inquirer, was not a coincidence.

“I owe a lot of my success to Vic and his staff, because just the way they implemented their defense and made me learn the game in a whole new perspective,” the 30-year-old Simmons said before Friday’s practice at his second-career Pro Bowl appearance. “It was a whole new defense, it was a whole new way of learning. So Philadelphia’s got a great one.”

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In Fangio, the Eagles are gaining a veteran defensive mind with 23 years of NFL head coaching and defensive coordinator experience combined, including a stint as Broncos head coach from 2019-21. After serving as the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator in 2023, Fangio and the team mutually parted ways, which head coach Mike McDaniel said via release was “the best path forward for all parties involved.”

Three days after his departure from the Dolphins, the Eagles announced they had hired Fangio as their defensive coordinator, reuniting with the man who served as a consultant to the team during the 2022 season.

In the aftermath, wide receiver Tyreek Hill said on a Twitch stream that Fangio was an “old-school” coach and “a guru at defense” that he “respected.” However, he said he thought that Fangio has “got to learn how to fit in with his players.” Both Simmons and Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II agreed that Fangio is old-school, but Simmons said that Fangio has “adapted really well.”

“He’s got own old philosophies,” Surtain, a two-time Pro Bowler, added. “And it’s for the good. It’s in a good way. I think he knows what a good defense looks like. He’s proven that so far. So I think his philosophy, his input, his resume speaks for itself.”

Fangio’s scheme is known for its utilization of two-high safety shells and running a variety of coverages, both zone and man, out of that look. As a safety, Simmons said he had to understand how to make various checks in and out of coverages while still maintaining the two-high safety disguise to “mess with the quarterback.”

“There’s a lot of things that you’ve got to learn to check into, check out of,” Simmons explained. “Offenses present different formations and you’ve got to be able to check in and out of those things depending on the formation you get. If you’ve got a linebacker on a receiver, you’re gonna check out of one coverage into another coverage. All guys got to be on the same page. It forces you as a safety to be more vocal. Linebackers, it forces you guys to communicate.

“So there’s a lot of moving parts to it. But when done right, it can be super successful.”

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Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, who was named to his sixth Pro Bowl roster, said that he hasn’t spoken to Fangio yet. He’s in the process of talking to players around the league about their experiences playing for the veteran coach.

Still, Slay expects the new defensive scheme to have some similarities to that of former defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who learned under Fangio when the two worked on the Chicago Bears coaching staff. Slay said he’s “heard a lot of great things” about Fangio, but his excitement going into next season is mainly rooted in the chance at another crack at a championship ring.

“I’m looking forward to that, man,” Slay said. “Like I said, I ain’t got too many years ... I’m going into Year 12. And I got a lot of great things on my resume besides a ring. So I’m for sure trying to give everything I’ve got to get a ring.”

Simmons didn’t have any one specific piece of advice to share that helped him have success in Fangio’s defense, but he said that generally speaking, players get as much out of the defense as they put into it. Having some familiarity with the Eagles personnel, including Slay and safety Kevin Byard, Simmons said that he thinks they will be able to handle Fangio’s scheme without issue.

“I’ve always appreciated him,” Simmons said of Fangio. “I’ve always loved him. I think he’s a heck of a coach and I think he’s gonna do a heck of a job for Philly.”

Fangio’s departure from Miami occurred without shortage of subsequent drama.

Shortly after the two sides parted ways, player agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents 11 Dolphins players including Hill, told local Miami television station WSVN that “quite a few players on the team” didn’t get along with Fangio. He added that some players loved him, but he emphasized that the relationships he had in the locker room weren’t unanimously positive.

Former Eagles quarterback and current NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst Ron Jaworski chimed in on the conversation on Tuesday when he appeared on the 94WIP Morning Show. Jaworski said that he has known Fangio since the mid-1980s when the new Eagles defensive coordinator was an unpaid assistant with the USFL Philadelphia Stars. He offered a contrasting take on Rosenhaus’ comments about Fangio not being popular among players.

“I have connections as well around this league and I hear another side of that story, that there were some players on that defense that didn’t want to work,” Jaworski said. “Didn’t want to put the time in, didn’t want to put the effort in, didn’t want to make the commitment to be successful. Guys like to party at night, and South Beach is really a great place to party.

“Vic tried to get those guys and push those guys to become harder workers, and better athletes, and more committed to their team. And he couldn’t get through to those guys. So, those were the guys that Vic was pushing and they’re the guys that are whining right now.”

Prior to the start of Friday’s practice at the Pro Bowl for the AFC team, seven-time Pro Bowl and three-time All-Pro Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey addressed Jaworski’s comments. The question posed to Ramsey claimed that Jaworski was speaking on behalf of Fangio, although Jaworski did not name the connections who offered the information to him.

“If Vic said that, then I would say that he should be man enough to address who it is,” Ramsey said. “I don’t think Vic said that though. Personally, I don’t think Vic would do that. And I disagree, just ‘cause I know what we were about. I know how I worked for damn sure, and I know how I led the other guys in that secondary. I know how we worked.”

At the same time, Ramsey emphasized that he and his teammates sought balance in their lives between work and play.

“We weren’t couch potatoes,” Ramsey said. “We didn’t go in the house all the time. I worked harder than ... I’ll stand on the table and say I work harder than anybody out here right now. But tonight, I’m gonna be with my homies and we’re gonna chill and we’re gonna do whatever we’ve got to do. Tomorrow, I’ll be back here at practice doing my thing again.

“So you’ve got to have a balance in life in general. But when it’s about work and when it’s about football, you do have to be about football. But I don’t think he said that, because I don’t think that’s how it was around here this year.”