Good morning, Broncos Country!
The biggest change for the Denver Broncos this season is who calls the plays on offense.
When Broncos head coach Sean Payton decided to give play-calling duties to Davis Webb in February, that was surprising as well. It’s not easy to relinquish something when you’re really good at it, and that’s what Payton has been as an offensive playcaller over the course of his coaching career in the NFL. But it also speaks to the trust that Payton has in Webb to take on that role.
One of the looming questions
will be what the Broncos offense looks like with Webb as the playcaller. After a minicamp practice in June, Payton was asked if the offense would be his or Webb’s.
“It’s the Broncos’ (offense). I said this at the beginning, and I mean it. I’m fully supportive of wanting us to be successful because when you get older, you just want to win. You always want to win, but you recognize maybe some of the things, maybe mistakes that you made when you were younger, where you paid too much attention to other things.
“The same, it’s our defense. That has to be the approach. The independent one side of the ball, this side … That’s not us, and it won’t be because in order to play real good defense, there are certain things you have to do offensively. That complementary football had a lot to do with how we ended up with a lot of wins a year ago. So we’ll be mindful of all of it.”
Tied to that is Webb’s offensive philosophy. What he’ll do differently and what he’ll do the same will be interesting to see over the course of training camp, the preseason, and then the regular season.
“I think all of us, sometimes, we can’t control who our influences are,” Payton said to the media after minicamp practice. “Sometimes we can. My first job (was) in Philadelphia as an assistant. It wasn’t like I was choosing. He’s been around some real good offenses, sharp minds. So you take those things that you think are important. Then collectively, we put it out as our offense.
“The key is, ‘What does it fit with our people?’ I think he’s good at that. He understands that. It moves with the personnel that moves in and out of it. It moves with (QB) Bo Nix, ‘What does he do well?’ It moves with the pieces of the players that are in there. So I think that’s most important.”
In the end, it all comes down to Nix. What Webb does to play off Nix’s strengths and how he best sets the offense up to succeed are paramount to Denver’s success this season. The addition of offensive playmaker Jaylen Waddle will play a huge part in this offense. Remember, Webb made the comparison of Nix getting Waddle to Josh Allen getting Stefon Diggs.
But getting more consistent in the running game will also play a big role. The good news is that Nix and Webb have a strong relationship to build upon.
“Obviously, it’ll be his first time, but he’s prepped and has been waiting for this day for a long time,” Nix said to the media about Webb. “This is his first opportunity, so he has to make the most of it, and he knows that, and he’s working really hard. He’s had a really successful grind this offseason, just really taking what we have (and asking), ‘How can we grow it, how can we make it a little bit more suitable for where we are now?’ ‘How can we make it so he enjoys calling it and comfortable for him?’
“Then, at the end of the day, how can he teach me to go out there and execute it and perform? We think similarly, so that’s going to be the fun part as we go. I’m really excited to have him. It allows Coach Payton to be relieved of those duties, be able to go and do other things, like really critique the defense, really critique special teams, really look at offensive line and defensive line, really look at the trenches, look at the skill, and evaluate a little bit more because his time’s not filled having to game plan or all that kind of stuff. So I think it’s just a good weapon for us to have, and I think it’s going to help us.”
This will also change Nix’s relationship with Payton. The more holistic approach that Nix mentioned about Payton taking for the team also applies to himself.
“I think he’s able to give me the knowledge that he has without having to worry about giving me the play or looking at somebody else’s alignment or worrying about a blocking scheme,” Nix said. “He can just straight up watch me and give me the knowledge that he has from the quarterback position that he’s really coached since he got brought up. He played it, coached it, and now he’s able to sort of get back to his roots of being almost like a quarterback coach.
“Like, ‘Tell me exactly the things that I have to get better at.’ Then, like I said, it just frees him up to watch other players, watch other things and really have an eye for that. He really does a great job evaluating, so I think he’s just going to continue to use those strengths and that gift. I’m excited because he can really challenge me to be better. He can look at things that he hasn’t necessarily gotten to look at in the past couple of years because he’s worried about the whole entire offense.”
The Broncos were a win away from the Super Bowl. In an offseason that didn’t see much change at all, the most notable will also play the key role in whether Nix and Denver take that next step.
