Before Davis Webb was promoted to offensive coordinator, the Denver Broncos assistant interviewed for head-coaching opportunities this offseason. One of those was with the Buffalo Bills.
While the Bills ultimately went a different direction, instead elevating Joe Brady for the role, their general manager, Brandon Beane, came away impressed with the 31-year-old Webb, whom Beane hinted Tuesday at the NFL combine would call plays for the Broncos next season.
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Later in the day, Broncos head coach Sean Payton confirmed that he is, in fact, handing over play-calling duties to Webb.
Payton made a name for himself in the NFL as a play-caller and continued to call plays as a head coach, first with the New Orleans Saints and then with the Denver Broncos.
Although Payton made it clear he’ll still be calling some plays on game day, he’s entrusting Webb to direct the Broncos’ offense. It’s a decision Payton believes is best for his team, which earned the AFC’s top seed and reached the conference title game during the 2025 campaign.
“It was something that I kind of knew during the year,” Payton said, eventually specifying that he had the realization midseason.
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“[Davis] and I visited on a handful of occasions. He’s extremely talented. With regards to play-calling, it’s something that I think he’ll be really good at. I know that’s like, ‘Man, are you going to give up play calling?’ And I would only do that if I felt like it would help our team.
“I’ll still be involved with what we do offensively, just like what we do defensively. But I do think he has a gift. I think he’s real sharp. I’m glad he’s on our staff.”
Payton quipped when he was asked in January about Webb potentially landing the Las Vegas Raiders’ head job. He has the utmost confidence in the former NFL quarterback, however, and he noted Tuesday that he believes Webb will become a head coach some day.
That said, play-calling wasn’t necessarily a bargaining chip to keep Webb in Denver, according to Payton.
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“I don’t know that this was, ‘Well, I’m staying if I get to do this,’” Payton said.
“I don’t think that was the case. … I think he really likes what he’s begun to do here with us and the start of working with a young quarterback. It’s hard to leave that. It was something I was already moving toward before anyone had even discussed it.”
That said, Payton knew he needed an offensive mind of Webb’s caliber to follow through with this type of transition.
He liked what he saw from Webb this past preseason. At the time the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach and offensive pass game coordinator, Webb called plays in Denver’s final exhibition game, a 27-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
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The former Texas Tech and Cal standout and NFL backup quarterback oversaw the team’s QB room from 2023-25. He was part of Payton’s inaugural Broncos staff.
Most notably, he’s assisted the development of Bo Nix, whom the Broncos selected No. 12 overall in the 2024 draft. Nix has thrown a combined 54 touchdowns in two seasons, and he’s already engineered 11 total game-winning drives: Eight of them came in Year 2, including one in Denver’s AFC divisional-round win versus the Bills.
Webb will be tasked with helping Payton enhance an offense that was 10th in offensive EPA in 2025 yet was inconsistent at times, had too many drops at the receiver position and too often sputtered in the run game.
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But it’s important to note that Webb has coached for only three seasons.
“You have coaches that you definitely want to retain, and it’s never going to be quite on your timeline,” Payton said candidly before alluding to now-Baltimore Ravens OC, and then-Broncos tight ends coach, Declan Doyle leaving the organization last offseason for the Chicago Bears’ OC gig.
“In other words, it just happens faster.”
Payton said that, even though Webb will be calling plays, the Broncos aren’t straying from their offensive system.
Payton’s had games before where he hasn’t called plays.
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“Sometimes you feel like you’re used to carrying something in a hand so your hands feel empty when you’re not doing that,” he said. “Look, I think it’s going to help our team, and I’ll do everything I can to support him. It’s something that I wouldn’t do if I didn’t think would help.”
He also said, with a splash of his signature humor: “I’m going to have opinions with plays. Mine will be the bad ones, his will be all the good ones.”
