Once the team’s captain, Anchorage’s Chris Kuper rejoins Denver Broncos as an assistant coach

Anchorage’s Chris Kuper is heading back to the place where he played his entire NFL career.

Kuper, 36, has been hired as an assistant offensive line coach for the Denver Broncos, the team he played with for eight seasons from 2006-13. The Dimond High grad was Denver’s co-captain in 2010.

The job continues Kuper’s NFL coaching career, which began in 2016 with the Miami Dolphins.

Kuper was on the Broncos team that lost the 2014 Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks but was sidelined with an injury for the big game. He retired at the end of that season with a nagging ankle injury that had limited his playing time in his final two seasons.

An offensive guard, Kuper helped Dimond to the 2001 state football championship and went on to star for the University of North Dakota.

Denver drafted him in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft. He appeared in 90 games, starting in 79 of them, and after the 2009-10 season, he was rewarded with a five-year, $25.5 million contract.

Kuper spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Miami, where he worked with the offensive line. His new job comes in the aftermath of the firings of Miami head coach Andrew Gase and Denver head coach Vance Joseph. Kuper is part of a Denver staff being assembled by new head coach Vic Fangio.