Redskins add Keith Burns as special teams coach

Danny Smith lasted a long time as the special teams coordinator for the Washington Redskins, across the stays of three head coaches.

But he wasn’t going to remain forever and change is on the way as Smith has departed to join the Pittsburgh Steelers and Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has hired one of his top special teams players from Denver as a replacement.

Keith Burns will be the news special teams coordinator for the Redskins, according to the Washington Post. He was an assistant special teams coach for the Broncos, where he has worked since 2007. Burns was a linebacker and standout special teams player for Shanahan in Denver and then the head coach gave him his start as an assistant.

It is a homecoming for Burns, who played high school football at T.C. Williams in Alexandria, Va., the school that spawned the movie “Remember the Titans.”

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune