INDIANAPOLIS — Sean Payton is stepping into a new phase of his decades-long head coaching career.
The Broncos head coach confirmed Tuesday that he is handing primary offensive play-calling responsibility to new offensive coordinator Davis Webb.
“He’s extremely talented,” Payton said of Webb at the NFL Combine. “With regards to play-calling, it’s something that I think he’ll be really good at it. I know it’s like, man, are you going to give up play-calling? And I would only do that if I thought it was going to help our team.”
Payton said he would still call some plays and be heavily involved in game planning. This isn’t the first time an assistant has called plays for Payton but it is the first time since 2016 and the veteran coach this week sounded like he was planning on this being the arrangement as long as Webb is in Denver and performing at a high level.
“I’ll still be involved with what we do offensively, just like with what we do defensively,” Payton said. “But I do think he has a gift. I think he’s real sharp. I’m glad he’s on our staff.”
Payton’s longtime offensive coordinator in New Orleans, Pete Carmichael, called plays early in the 2016 season. The Saints at the time were coming off back-to-back 7-9 seasons and ultimately finished with that mark again. Before that, Carmichael called plays in 2011 after Payton fractured his leg on the sideline and was forced to watch the action from the coaches’ booth.
Otherwise, though, Payton been the primary play caller every year he’s coached since he arrived at the Saints in 2006 and had the responsibility as far back as 2000 with the New York Giants.
Now, Webb will take the play sheet.
“The cool thing is (Payton) one of the best to ever call it and yet he’s going to let this young up-and-comer call it,” Denver general manager George Paton said Tuesday. “It just shows you how much he believes in Davis.”
The future is now
The transition is one Payton believes will best serve the Broncos going into the future. It is difficult to overstate, though, the extent to which the decision is a seismic one in the 62-year-old coach’s career arc.
Payton outlined with striking self-reflection a midseason sense that the time to make a change might be nearing. He said he and Webb talked during the season about his position, but also about having more input and being able to call plays in the future.
As the weeks progressed, Payton became increasingly willing to crack that door open. By the time Denver started preparing for a divisional round game against Buffalo, Payton openly reminded himself that he needed to be quick, decisive and bold in the postseason. He cited the natural inclination to grow more conservative with age, saying he had to stave off any sense that he might “stop driving in the rain after dark.”
“I can’t let that happen as a playcaller,” he said then.
Payton again referenced “being quicker” on Tuesday.
In the end, though, this move and this moment are more an affirmation of Payton’s trust and confidence in Webb rather than a self-indictment.
“Itap only if there’s someone that you feel like is good enough to do that,” Payton said. “He’ll have that opportunity. Having done this before, I can recall how it was. I’m sure there will be times where I say, ‘This is what I want to run here.’
“But there’s a trust there. Trust in his ability and trust in our relationship.”
‘A natural leader, a natural communicator’
Webb, 31, has been on the fast track since well before his playing career ended. Sean McDermott tried to hire him as Buffalo’s quarterback coach before Webb decided to play again in 2022. Payton and general manager George Paton interviewed Webb in early 2023, then called the car taking him to the airport to turn around, lest he get out of town before agreeing to be Denver’s quarterback coach.
After the 2024 season, Payton staved off competition for Webb by giving him a passing game coordinator title and a raise. Then Webb interviewed for a raft of head coaching jobs this winter — he was in contention in both Buffalo and Las Vegas, sources said — before agreeing to return to the Broncos as the offensive coordinator.
Payton said he didn’t think the decision for Webb to return was as simple as the play-calling matter — Webb told The Post late in the season that he loves coaching Bo Nix and the rest of Denver’s quarterbacks — but it is a major step forward in Webb’s career and likely the last major box to check to round out his head coaching candidacy in future offseasons.
“A lot of it is, the minute the season ends, you have a number of coaches interviewing for other jobs,” Payton said. “You have coaches you definitely want to retain and itap never going to be quite on your timeline. … It happens faster.”
Sometimes news comes out faster, too. After weeks of speculation about this potential move, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane sort of broke the news when he talked with reporters at the Combine. Payton later quipped that he saw Beane in the hallway and wondered if perhaps Beane wanted to do Payton’s news conference, too.
In addition to spilling the beans, though, Beane heaped praise on Webb more broadly.
“He’s a natural teacher, a natural communicator, he’s very smart,” Beane said. “He’s worked now for a few seasons under Sean Payton. Sean’s a Hall of Fame head coach. And his dad was a football coach in Texas. And so, I think all of that is pouring into him. He’s young, as well. And so, as we talked about when this opportunity came and then when we went in a different direction was, ‘Hey, dude, you’ve only actually been coaching three years. You’ve been playing, so it seems like longer.
“Just keep building on this.’ He’s going to get an opportunity, I believe, to call plays now, which I think will only help his resume.”
Indeed, it will, assuming the next step goes well for Webb. The Broncos believe it will.
“I think he’s sharp and I think he’s been around it,” Payton said. “Coach’s kid. Played quarterback. In the preseason (the play calling) was really good. Again, I want to do everything I can to support him, so we’re not going to sit and grade his play-calling each week. At least hopefully, we’re not. Itap more about the team.”
“Itap something I wouldn’t do if I didn’t think it would help.”
