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INDIANAPOLIS — In search of more impact from the team’s offense, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton has made one of the most significant moves of his coaching career.
Payton announced Tuesday that newly named offensive coordinator Davis Webb will be the team’s playcaller on game days.
It means the 2026 season will be the first time in Payton’s tenure as an NFL head coach — since 2006 — that he will not be his team’s primary offensive playcaller. Webb, who has been on the Broncos’ staff as the quarterbacks coach since Payton was hired by the Broncos in 2023, was promoted to offensive coordinator when Joe Lombardi was fired two days after the Broncos lost 10-7 to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
“It was something that I kind of knew during the year,” Payton said Tuesday at the NFL’s scouting combine. “[Webb] is extremely talented. … I think he’ll be really good at it. I know that’s like, ‘Man, are you giving up playcalling?’ But I would only do that if I felt it would help our team. I’ll still be involved.”
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With backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the lineup for an injured Bo Nix, the Broncos gained just 32 yards in the second half of the loss to the Patriots to lose a chance at the franchise’s ninth Super Bowl trip. The Broncos had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarters longer than 17 yards.
After the loss, Payton was asked what he would be most critical of in the aftermath, and he said he would start with himself. Payton said Tuesday he had first considered the idea to hand over playcalling duties about “midseason” and that the end-of-season review played a part as well, including the potential to pick up the pace or “the speed” of the playcalling process.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it was going to help our team win,” Payton said. “… It’s about improving your team any way you can.”
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 this past season. They led the league in sacks and in red zone defense in the regular season, second on third down and third in scoring defense and best in yards surrendered per play overall (4.46).
But Payton had expressed his frustrations about the offense at various times during the season as well as the day after the playoff loss. The Broncos were 14th in the regular season in scoring — 23.6 points per game — 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR, but they finished 29th in three-and-outs (25% of drives).
Webb had also interviewed for three head coaching jobs this offseason — with Buffalo, Baltimore and Las Vegas — and had drawn interest from several other teams as an offensive coordinator, including the New York Giants. Payton had allowed Webb to call plays in the Broncos’ preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals last August when the Broncos gained 562 yards in a 27-7 win.
“It’s easier to do as you get older and you look at it like ‘how do we win more games?”’ Payton said. “… I think it’s going to help our team and I’ll do everything I can to support him. And it’s something that I wouldn’t do if I think it would help us.”
Asked to elaborate about why he made the decision this offseason, Payton added: “Because of Davis, just felt like he was going to do a good job with it. He’s very talented.”
And in an odd quirk it was Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Joe Brady who actually revealed that Payton had named Webb as the Broncos’ playcaller earlier in the day at the combine. Until Tuesday, Payton had not publicly addressed Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator.
But Webb is a former Bills player (2019-2021) and Beane had interviewed Webb for the Bills’ job in recent weeks that went to Brady. And Brady is a former Payton assistant on the New Orleans Saints’ staff who is in regular contact with Payton.
But several hours before Payton spoke at the combine Beane was asked about Webb’s interview and had said “he’s gonna get an opportunity, I believe, to call plays now, which I think will only help his resume.”
And Brady said minutes later that “to be a first-time playcaller, to have Sean Payton as a resource. I think Davis is an absolute stud.”
