Gary Kubiak is coming back to Denver. (Getty Images)

A week after mutually parting ways with former coach John Fox, the Denver Broncos have reached an agreeement with former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak to become the team's next coach. Kubiak's deal is expected to last four years and could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to the Denver Post. Kubiak takes over a Broncos team that has made the playoffs the past four seasons and is 46-18 over that span.

Here are a few things to know about his hiring.

1. This is not his first go-round

Kubiak was a quarterback for Texas A&M in the early 1980s, and when he entered the NFL Draft in 1983, he was drafted by Denver. Seven rounds earlier, the Colts selected a Stanford quarterback named John Elway and shipped him to Denver in a trade. Kubiak lasted eight seasons, all as Elway's backup in Denver. He started five games, compiling a 3-2 record while throwing for 14 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

After retiring, Kubiak went to Texas A&M to coach running backs for two years, then made his way to San Francisco, where he helped lead the 49ers and Steve Young to a Super Bowl win over the Chargers as quarterbacks coach. The following year, he joined Mike Shanahan in Denver as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. His quarterback, of course, was Elway until 1998. Kubiak stayed on as Shanahan's offensive coordinator until 2005, when he was hired as coach of the Houston Texans.

Kubiak lasted nearly eight seasons as the top man in Houston, amassing a 61-64 record and making two trips to the playoffs. Both times, the Texans won their first game at home before falling in the divisional round on the road. Kubiak was fired by the Texans in 2013 after the team started the season 2-11 as he repeatedly switched between various ineffective quarterabcks.

He caught on right away with Baltimore, where he was the OC for the 2014 season, and the Ravens had the best offense of the Joe Flacco era. The Ravens finished ninth in offensive DVOA after ranking 30th in 2013, while Flacco had the best passing season of his career.

Now Kubiak's back with the Broncos as coach, working for a general manager named ... John Elway.

2. Dream job

The progression ... from this:

to this:

... doesn't look all that good. Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith understands, though. He's not mad at all.

Smith is right. When Kubiak said he was staying with Baltimore, he didn't and couldn't have known the Broncos job would open soon after. Head coach of the Denver Broncos is Kubiak's dream job, and nobody can besmirch a guy for chasing his dreams.

3. Meshing with Manning

If there's one thing Kubiak is known for, it's his zone-blocking running scheme, which has been extraordinarily successful for a very, very long time. As we wrote back in December:

Eight different running backs have now rushed for at least 1,000 yards in a season on a Kubiak-coached team since he became Denver's offensive coordinator in 1995, with Justin Forsett joining Arian Foster, Steve Slaton, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, Clinton Portis, Olandis Gary and Terrell Davis.

What stands out when looking at that list is how many of those players were castoffs and afterthoughts before hooking into Kubiak's system. Portis is the only one of those eight who was drafted in the first two rounds. Foster and Forsett were undrafted; Anderson and Davis were sixth-round picks; Gary went in the fourth round; Droughns and Slaton were picked in the third. The scheme has been the very definition of plug-and-play over the years.

You're likely familiar with the zone running scheme, even if you don't know it. The foundation of the zone run game relies on three plays: inside zone, outside zone and stretch. Think of Davis or Foster running east to west, then planting their foot in the ground, making one cut and taking off down the field. Picture Portis searching for a hole between the guard and tackle before knifing through the seam. It's not difficult at all to picture C.J. Anderson having great success in Kubiak's offense.

The stretch play, of course, is a staple of the offenses that Peyton Manning has run throughout his career. Everyone's seen him reach his hand out far away from his body to give the ball off to Edgerrin James, Joseph Addai, Knowshon Moreno and others. But the Manning offense is a delicate ecosystem; he's nearly always functioned as a de facto offensive coordinator, and of course, that's Kubiak's calling card as well. It will be interesting to see how Manning meshes with a coach who also has such a clearly defined offensive system, provided he comes back for another season.