Bears interviewed Broncos senior personnel executive David Shaw for their head coaching job

Shaw joined the Broncos this past year and is now being considered for the Bears head coaching job.

The Chicago Bears announced that they completed an interview Denver Broncos senior personnel executive David Shaw for their vacant head coaching position. Shaw interviewed for the Saints vacant head coaching job earlier this month so this will be the second head coaching job he has interviewed for.

The Chicago Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus after a disappointing 4-8 start to the season. Expectations were high in the Windy City after they drafted quarterback Caleb Williams number one overall while adding Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, and others to that offense. Now, the team is looking for the right coach to get the franchise back going in the right direction and get the most out of the talented Caleb Williams.

Could David Shaw be that guy?

Shaw joined the Broncos back in June of this past year and was going to join General Manager George Paton’s staff and would evaluate pro and college talent. He also interviewed for the Broncos head coaching job in 2023 before the team hired Sean Payton to be their coach.

He is a well-respected and rather intelligent football mind recently re-signed from Stanford because of the direction of the football program. However, before that, he was widely regarded as one of the better football minds in the game. He also provided his insight on draft prospects during NFL Network’s draft coverage.

Shaw took over the Stanford job back in 2011 when now Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh left the program to be the 49ers’ head coach. Before that, he served as Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator at Stanford and even coached with Harbaugh at the University of San Diego as his passing game coordinator.

Now, Shaw does have some NFL experience as well. He spent nine years in the NFL before joining Harbaugh at the University of San Diego. He has stints with the Philadelphia Eagles(on the same coaching staff as Sean Payton) Oakland Raiders, and the Baltimore Ravens. So he is not just strictly a college coach but a coach with experience at both levels.

We do need to address the elephant in the room here. Teams are required to interview two minority candidates due to the Rooney Rule. However, if a team does hire that minority candidate, the previous team would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years as an award for developing a minority candidate. So, if David Shaw were to get hired, the Broncos would receive a 3rd round compensatory pick this season and next season.

Shaw has interviewed for head coaching jobs recently but has yet to be hired. We’ll see if he gets any more interviews this cycle and if he’ll be a contender for the Bears or Saints jobs. He has a good eye for talent, so losing him would be a blow to the Broncos scouting department, but George Paton and his staff have been doing a pretty good job recently so I have faith in them moving forward.