Citing health issue, Mike Westhoff steps down as Broncos assistant head coach

Broncos assistant head coach Mike Westhoff has stepped down. Westhoff, a cancer survivor, cited a health concern in making exit.

Specifically, Westhoff will be monitoring a health issue that emerged last week.

“It’s not easy to make this decision, but this was a wake-up call that I needed to put my health first,” Westhoff said, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Media. “This team is very much headed in the right direction with a strong foundation and a winning culture. I’m grateful to Sean for giving me the opportunity to contribute to a first-class organization and wish the Broncos the very best.”

Westhoff is a former special-teams coordinator. The Broncos’ special-teams currently are run by coordinator Ben Kotwica and assistant Chris Banjo.

After various college football stints dating back to 1974, Westhoff arrived in the NFL in 1986, with the Dolphins. He remained there until 2000. He worked for the Jets from 2001 through 2012. He retired at that point, returning in 2017 to work with current Broncos coach Sean Payton and the Saints. He stayed through 2018, before joining Payton in Denver last year.

Some will think that the move had something to do with the blocked field goal that cost the Broncos a win in Kansas City on Sunday. As one source with knowledge of the situation explained it, Westhoff would be stepping down even if the field goal attempted by Will Lutz at the end of the loss to the Chiefs hadn’t been blocked. Indeed, Kotwica and Banjo remain as the special-teams coaches in Denver.

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