5 most likely candidates to be the Tennessee Titans next Defensive Coordinator
By Will Lomas
4. Bill Kollar, Broncos DL coach
Kollar is a lifelong defensive line coach who has made it a habit of creating and developing Pro Bowl players. When Kollar joined the St. Louis Rams in 2001, he started coaching Leonard Little.
Little was in his 4th season and in his first three seasons he combined for just 5.5 sacks and 5 TFLs, which is just more than one of each per year. In the 5 years Leonard spent with Kollar, he totaled 55 sacks and 51 TFLs which is 11 sacks and 10+ TFLs per year.
The next season, he joined the Buffalo Bills and helped EDGE Aaron Schobel make it to back to back (and his only two) Pro Bowl seasons. In Buffalo, he also helped a 5th round pick named Kyle Williams find his footing and earn his place in the NFL before going on to having a career with 6 Pro Bowls.
After that, he started on his path towards meeting Mike Vrabel when he joined the Houston Texans for a six-year stint. Here is an incredibly interesting note from his time there: between Antonio Smith, Mario Williams, and J.J. Watt, Kollar’s unit was by far the best on the team and made a combined 5 Pro Bowls between the three of them in that time.
Finally, he has been with the Denver Broncos since 2015 where he won a Super Bowl ring in his first season. Under his tutelage, Von Miller went to five straight Pro Bowls before an injury this season, Bradley Chubb made his first Pro Bowl this year, and Demarcus Ware earned his final pro bowl season.
Outside of EDGEs, he also helped develop Derek Wolfe (2nd round) and Malik Jackson (5th round) into great starters in the NFL.
Maybe he doesn’t know exactly what coverage he wants to run right now, maybe he does, I don’t know. What I can say is that this is a coach who developed at least one Pro Bowl defensive lineman in every stop he has made since the start of this millennium. I would say that he is worth rolling the dice on as a DC.