In the NFL, experience matters — especially at the coaching level. Few offensive minds have more experience calling plays in the NFL than Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton. Which is why it came as a surprise that he gave up that job after promoting Davis Webb to offensive coordinator.
Unfortunately, Webb has faced a gauntlet of strong defenses with defensive coordinators with far more experience than he at calling their plays. The result has been a very inconsistent and ineffective offense through
four games. With pressure mounting outside of the building, it appears Payton chose to protect his offensive protégé rather than expose him to even more negative press.
As someone who has covered the NFL for a while himself, these kinds of changes often accompany the coordinator being demoted as taking the heat and the blame for the issues on offense. And more often than not the change doesn’t result in any marked improvement. However, Payton chose a different route and talked Webb up and was frank about the negatives around taking play calling away.
I think we’ll see Davis Webb return to calling plays at some point either here or elsewhere, but in 2026 with a contention window open, it makes sense to return duties to the experienced hand and try to get Bo Nix and the offense back in sync winning games.
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Potent quotables
Sean Payton
Opening statement
“I’ll go quick. So the coordinators will go tomorrow. We’ll make a change offensively. I’ll call the plays. I understand the questions at the start of the week. I want to say this first, and I said it to [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb] the other day talking to him. I’ve done this long enough where I know when I have a future head coach, and he’s going to be one. All the things that it’s hard to find will happen. In fact, the same thing to some degree—a little bit different—happened to myself early in my career. I met with the offense.
As the head coach, no different than evaluating your right tackle, your slot receiver, your running backs, something to change it up. Ultimately, I used that word the ‘collective’ yesterday. It’s the group. So when I met with the offense, it’s about buttoning up all of the little things that keep you from sustaining drives. Davis is all-in with the gameplan, just like we’ve been operating. He’ll be down on the field with me. So I’ll take any questions.”
On if the change was more about the play calling communication on gameday or the preparation during the week
“I think it’s probably… There’d be too many things just to list. We know we have to improve our balance in running the football. There’s a handful of things. Then the hard thing when you are not the head coach is certainly there are things you want to feel like are cleared, where when you’re calling them as the head coach, you’re in your mind prepared to say, ‘I don’t have to run it by anyone.’ So it’s changing things up and really trying to reduce some of the calories to get back to getting some things really well. That’s going to be the focus.”
On when he made this decision
“Monday we met and met with the players. I met with [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb]. He’s been fantastic. Like I said, he’s super talented. All of us, everyone’s disappointed in the unit itself. We’re 2-2, but we feel like there’s more there. He was fantastic in my meeting with him, and the approach all week has been fantastic.”
On his initial decision to give Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb play calling responsibilities because of the prevalence of talented young play callers around the league
“I think I’m still one of them. That was a good storyline for you guys. Because I honestly felt like it was going to help us. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think… That’s how unique I think he is. It was because I honestly thought standing back as the head coach it would help us.”
On if he thinks Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb was calling the plays at times that he wanted
“Let’s be clear: it’s the Broncos’ offense. So naturally there are some things… When you’re empowering someone, you want him to come up with things that maybe you otherwise hadn’t. It’s our offense, and we want to improve.”
On if this was a harder decision than giving Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb play calling in the beginning
“Yes. Yes, absolutely.”
On how he handled when former Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel took over play calling in 2002
“It was 2002. It was tough. [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb], he’s going to respond well. It was different. I’d just lost my mother during the bye week. We got imbalanced a little bit. I just remember the professional setback, if you will. We had gone to the Super Bowl in [2000] so this was a couple years into it. It wasn’t until a couple years later that you’re like, ‘Man, you really didn’t mourn the loss of your mom because you were so out of whack with your career.’ And the team did better. Very quickly, it’s still about the team, and we went to the playoffs. There are certain things that I learned that maybe I needed to. Then shortly there after, I’m in Dallas and then three years later, I get that opportunity [in New Orleans]. He’s been fantastic. A much different situation, if you will.”
On if they will adjust terminology at all
“Well I just said it to him, to the assistants. What these guys have learned, I can adjust and learn. Sometimes it might be something where I want to call it this. They’ll learn it. The things that have been tweaked relative to certain formations or calls, that’s the easy part.”
On if he will be talking to QB Bo Nix on gameday
“I’ll be in [QB] Bo [Nix]’s head. Otherwise you lose like four seconds.”
On working through the mechanics of getting the play call in
“The mechanics will be fast. It’ll be fast. Part of it is just having that balance of proper sleep and all those things. The mechanics will be quick.”
On if they will adjust anything else about their meetings or schedule
“Not really. Maybe just some of what we’re doing in practice, how we’re doing it. There were a few things, but for the most part, it’s the little things that every one of us has to look closely at.”
On if he thinks it was a sequencing issue on gameday or a feel issue
“I don’t know specifically. There’s just a… I think my instincts have just maybe from experience, having a chance to see kind of where we’re at and then maybe where we need to go. I think that’s really my instincts.”
On if watching someone else call plays gave him a different perspective on self-scouting the offense
“Sometimes, yes. Let’s just say the average is 67 selections in a game. It’s impossible to think that we would all be in the same… It’s easy to say, ‘The short yardage call is going to be this out of the gate.’ You could take 32 play callers, and the sequencing would be completely somewhat different.”
On what makes this situation different than the one he was in during the 2002 season
“That was such a media circus and such a… I’m real mindful of that. I don’t want to compare it. It’s different. It’s much different. The only similarity would just be having experienced and then messaging and talking to [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb], but it’s much different than the New York situation.”
On what he thinks has changed now
“Well I don’t think… When you announce your starting lineup, you don’t say, ‘For now, this is our starting lineup.’ I just felt like we needed a change right now.”
On if things weren’t working right now
“You said it.”
On if this decision was to get QB Bo Nix back on track
“No. [QB] Bo [Nix] is the by-product of a lot of things at that position. Hopefully that will be one of the things that can happen, but there are a lot of other things that I think can allow that to happen first.”
On if he thought that maybe four games against tough opponents wasn’t enough
“Really, the question is, ‘Was that a challenging or difficult decision?’ Yes, yes.”
On if this is a temporary decision
“We’re focused on this week. If I’m not worth a hoot… It’s always what’s best for the team. That’s how I have to step away and look at it. I think we’ll do what’s best for the team.”
On if he consulted with anyone else about this decision
“Just mine. There are people you talk with, but yes. That’s it.”
On if QB Bo Nix had any reaction
“Everyone’s a little disappointed because you feel like you let one of your teammates down. That’s the human part of it. That’s our game a little bit in this league. I’m going to go back to what I said earlier relative to his talent. It’s rare. He’s gifted. It’s all ahead of him, I’m talking about [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb].”
On if he thought about handling things more like Pro Football Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells when he was in Dallas
“That was completely different. That was completely different, and I think that [Pro Football Hall of Fame Head Coach] Bill [Parcells] was very emotional. That’s kind of how he is. He was right. He used to say that’s a little bit [of] his love language. You’d only get worried if he wasn’t at all emotionally attached to you or how you’re coaching. So I learned early on that after each play call with the huffs and the moans, that was all just him. A different situation.”
On if he thought about making a change quietly
“Yes, it’s hard in 2026. Would I be coming here right now if I didn’t have 15 guys telling me they’ve learned this? This was just an easy way to… [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb] will visit with you guys tomorrow. He’ll be fantastic, and I’m sure you guys will be good as well. It’s just I think the right thing for our club.”
Under the radar
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