The “Young OCs” might sound like a spinoff of the 2000s-era network television show, "The OC."
It actually represents a key storyline at the outset of the 2026 NFL season – with “OCs” short for “offensive coordinators” who are first-time play-callers for teams craving stability or improvement on that side of the ball.
Grant Udinski of the Jacksonville Jaguars is the youngest offensive coordinator in the league at 30 years old, but head coach Liam Coen calls plays. Brad Idzik, 34, is taking over play-calling duties for the Carolina Panthers after head coach Dave Canales handed off that responsibility this offseason. Tommy Rees, also 34, will call plays under Kevin Stefanski like he did for the second half of last season – except this time with
the Atlanta Falcons rather than the Cleveland Browns.
Thus, let’s focus on these four 30-somethings who have keys to the call sheets.
Davis Webb, 31, Denver Broncos
Sean Payton is one of the most-accomplished and highly-regarded playcallers of the 21st century.
Rather than lose Davis Webb – the former NFL quarterback who moved into coaching in 2023 after a six-year career in as a backup – to another team this offseason, Payton promoted him and gave him the keys to a Broncos offense that lagged behind the rest of the roster as the team surged to the top seed in the AFC last year. The bump followed a pattern of Webb progressing from quarterbacks coach (2023-24) to adding offensive pass game coordinator to his duties last season.
“We’ll let it rip when it’s go time, but right now there are butterflies for everybody,” Webb said. “I think of it as a player getting hit for the first time or the first completion – getting that first play call in, and we’ll get rolling after that.”
Throughout the preseason, Payton has been a resource to lean on, Webb said, and the former Texas Tech and Cal quarterback has no reason to think that will change once the games matter.
“He has his few pointers here and there, and they are all productive pointers. He’s 62 years old, and I’m 31. It is what it is. He has a lot more experience than me,” Webb said. “Even the last few nights, he’s given us five to 10 nuggets that have really benefitted us going through the gameplan meetings. It’s still a Sean Payton offense, and that is how we want to operate it.”
Quarterback Bo Nix, entering his third season, immediately noticed the difference between Payton and Webb in his ear. Payton often kept his instructions limited to the call and a pointer or two, Nix said, because he needed to keep his thoughts streamlined as an inexperienced pro. Webb’s approach is slightly altered.
“He understands where I’m at on my level, and he can also push me, give me a little bit more, and also be a little extra at times,” Nix said of Webb. “He’s always going to be the guy that sends me a joke every once in a while and sort of keeps it lighthearted. Just as serious as this game is, it can also be fun at the same time.
I know he’s going to do a great job. He does a really good job preparing. He’s going to work harder than anybody else in the building at his craft, and he’s going to do his job to the best of his ability. I think that’s comforting when I go out there and play and hear that voice inside my helmet. Also I think it will be fun to grow and to learn as he goes.”
Declan Doyle, 30, Baltimore Ravens
Webb might work for Payton now, but Declan Doyle is actually a longer-tenured protege of the Broncos head man dating back to his days leading the New Orleans Saints. The son of longtime Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle, Declan Doyle became an offensive assistant under Payton in 2019 and followed him to Denver as the tight ends coach in 2023 and 2024. Doyle spent last season as Ben Johnson’s offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears, but did not call plays. That’s his responsibility now with Ravens head coach Jesse Minter being a defensive mind, and who wouldn’t want to call plays for quarterback Lamar Jackson or scheme up runs for Derrick Henry?
But Doyle isn’t getting ahead of skis and referenced a favorite saying of his former boss, Payton.
“You get to training camp and it’s this blind race — you don’t know where anybody else is, and all you can really focus on is the process and what’s in front of you every day,” Doyle said. “That’s really what we have tried to do. You get your first snapshot of really where you’re at in that first game.”
His first opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, also has a familiar face on the opposite sideline – younger brother Dillon Doyle is a defensive quality control coach.
The element of surprise inherent within a new offense is an advantage, Doyle said.
“I think any time you put an offense together and you build it kind of from scratch, there are parts of everything that you bring to it,” Doyle said. “There are parts of different elements of our staff that are new to this offense, and this offense is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens — that’s what it is. It’s not any one thing from the past.”
Sean Mannion, 34, Philadelphia Eagles
Call Sean Mannion the librarian.
“When we set out to kind of build our system, we looked at it in terms of ‘We’re building a library,’” Mannion told reporters.
The collection of formations, motions, protections, run schemes and beyond began forming in April – including all aspects quarterback Jalen Hurts has been successful with during the coaching tenure of Nick Sirianni. Different layers, additional details, a tweak here are there – that’s what makes up the “new scheme.”
“Ultimately, it’s been all part of the same library,” Mannion said. “Now that we head into the season, you find yourself pulling a different book off the shelf here, a different book off the shelf here, as well as studying the opponent and finding new things, new books that you’re putting on the shelf, just to steal that analogy.”
A new offensive coordinator is nothing, well, new for the Eagles. Sirianni has had a different offensive coordinator in each of the last five seasons. But Mannion is his first hire from outside of his orbit, as the former Oregon State quarterback spent his first two coaching seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2024-25) after his playing days ended.
For tight end Dallas Goedert, it’s the first time in five years he’s truly learning new formations, concepts and terminologies. That required more studying.
“The first time you hear them, it takes a little bit, but now it’s almost coming second-nature,” Goedert said.
In July, running back Saquon Barkley told USA TODAY Sports Mannion had the “opportunity of a lifetime” with his new gig.
“Everybody keeps kind of mentioning the work that he’s putting in,” Barkley said later in training camp.
The Eagles have learned Mannion is a first-in-the-building, last-to-leave type.
“I think that’s pretty cool, to have a guy that bought in – not just saying it, but it takes work to build it, it takes a lot of studying, especially in that transition,” Barkley said.
The teaching aspect, standing in front of other grown men and presenting what the staff has worked tirelessly to put together, is what Mannion enjoys most.
“There’s so many different elements to it, but football’s a beautiful game because they all come together,” Mannion said.
David Bough, 31, Washington Commanders
Somewhat similar to the Payton-Webb dynamic, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn has expressed his desire to keep Blough in the building and develop him as a coach from within.
The former Detroit Lions quarterback became the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024 during Jayden Daniels’ rookie season thanks to his connection to ex-OC Kliff Kingsbury. Now he has his former boss’ old job, in no small part because of his chemistry with Daniels.
There is one easy way for a playcaller to earn the trust of a quarterback, the third-year pro said.
“I think it's just always just having answers … you gotta have some answer for the blitz, protection, stuff like that,” Daniels said. “That started back in OTAs, started back before when he got hired. Just being collaborative on every down, on the same page, so come (Week 1), come these types of moments, we’re on the same page and we see it the same way.”
Quinn’s impact on Blough is apparent, with the younger coach echoing a version of Quinn’s favorite phrase, “let it rip.”
“I think you can trust your instincts when they're founded in hard work, and our whole group has done that, you know?” Blough said. “So, that's kind of the mantra for us is, we're gonna go cut it loose and, and let it all out there.”
Late in training camp, Quinn declared Blough was “having a fantastic offseason.”
“The collaboration with the staff is the thing that keeps jumping out to me ... we've got some really supportive guys that he can lean into to go, but he's got his own thoughts, his own way, and he's demonstrated that,” Quinn said.
Quinn added: “He's gonna be fantastic, David is. He's aggressive, he's thoughtful, he's quick on his feet, he's decisive. Does all that mean your first game goes fantastic? No, hell no, it doesn't. It means that this guy's gonna be an excellent play caller in the NFL.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Young, unproven and in charge of NFL offenses, these 30-somethings are calling shots
