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Jeff Legvold
multiple authors
ANDIANAPOLIS–Looking for more impact from the team’s offense, denver broncos Coach Sean Payton has taken the most important step of his coaching career.
Payton announced Tuesday that newly named offensive coordinator Davis Webb will be the team’s playcaller on gameday.
This means that the 2026 season will be the first time in Payton’s tenure as an NFL head coach – since 2006 – that he has not been his team’s primary playcaller on offense. Webb, who has been on the Broncos staff as quarterbacks coach since the Broncos hired Payton in 2023, was promoted to offensive coordinator when Joe Lombardi was fired two days after the Broncos lost 10–7. new England Patriots In the AFC Championship Game.
“It was something I knew going into the year,” Payton said Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine. [Webb] He’s extremely talented… I think he’d be really good at this. I know it’s like ‘Dude, are you quitting playcalling?’ But I will do this only if I feel it will help our team. “I will still be involved.”
with backup quarterback jarrett stidham In the lineup for an injured bo nixThe Broncos gained only 32 yards in the second half of the loss to the Patriots and missed a chance at the franchise’s ninth Super Bowl trip. The Broncos had only one first down after halftime and did not have a possession longer than 17 yards in the third or fourth quarter.
After the loss, Payton was asked what he would criticize the most after this, and he said he would start with himself. Payton said Tuesday that he first considered the idea of delegating playcalling duties about “midseason” and that the end-of-season review also played a role, including the ability to increase the pace or “pace” of the playcalling process.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it would help our team win,” Payton said. “…It’s about making your team better in some way.”
The Broncos, who finished 14–3 in the regular season to earn the AFC’s No. 1 seed, had one of the league’s best defenses last season. He led the league in sacks and red zone defense in the regular season, was second on third downs and third in scoring defense and best overall in yards surrendered per game (4.46).
But Payton expressed his frustrations with the offense several times during the season and even the day after the playoff loss. The Broncos were 14th in scoring in the regular season – 23.6 points per game – 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR, but they finished 29th in three-and-outs (25%).
Webb also interviewed for three head coaching jobs this offseason with Buffalo, Baltimore and Las Vegas and drew interest from several other teams as an offensive coordinator, including New York Giants. Payton allowed Webb to play in the Broncos’ preseason game against Arizona Cardinals Last August when the Broncos gained 562 yards in a 27-7 win.
“As you get older, it’s easier to do that and you look at it like, ‘How can we win more games?'” … I think it’ll help our team and I’ll do everything I can to support him, Payton said. And that’s something I wouldn’t do if I thought it would help us.”
Asked to elaborate on why he made this decision this offseason, Payton said: “Because of Davis, it felt like he was going to do a good job with it. He’s very talented.”
And it was a strange oddity buffalo bill General manager Brandon Beane and head coach Joe Brady actually revealed that Payton had named Webb as the Broncos’ playcaller earlier in the day at the combine. As of Tuesday, Payton had not publicly addressed Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator.
But Webb is a former Bills player (2019-2021) and Beane interviewed Webb in recent weeks for the Bills job that went to Brady. And Brady is a former assistant to Payton. New Orleans Saints‘Staff who are in regular contact with Peyton.
But several hours before Payton spoke at the combine, Beane was asked about Webb’s interview and he said, “I believe he’s going to get an opportunity to call plays now, which I think will only help his resume.”
And Brady added a few minutes later that, “To be a first-time playcaller, to have Sean Payton as a resource. I think Davis is an absolute stud.”
