Now that the Broncos’ season is over, their assistant coaches are fair game to be promoted elsewhere.
In his season-ending press conference, coach Sean Payton was asked about the possibility of offensive pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb staying in the division as the next head coach of the Raiders.
“It’d be a pain in the ass for him,” Payton said, via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette.
Frankly, he’s right. The AFC West has the Broncos, Chargers, and Chiefs. Webb, a third-round pick in the draft that produced Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, would be matching wits with Payton, Jim Harbaugh, and Andy Reid, twice per year. Webb also would be dealing with the fact that the Raiders’ roster has plenty of holes, and that the Broncos, Chargers, and Chiefs (with some fine tuning) will be in the playoff mix next year.
More than 20 years ago, Payton was a candidate to coach the Raiders. He was advised by Bill Parcells (among others) to not take the job. (Click this link for Parcells’s advice, and be sure to check out the Happy Meal story.) Payton waited for his shot with the Saints.
This time around, Payton may have similar advice for Webb, if an offer comes his way. And things will get very interesting if Webb takes the job anyway.
The Broncos hoped to have one more game to play in the 2025 season, but their 10-7 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game meant Monday was devoted to looking ahead to Week 1 of the 2026 campaign rather than the Super Bowl.
Part of that forecasting involves changes to the roster. Players like J.K. Dobbins, John Franklin-Myers, Justin Strnad, and Alex Singleton are set to become free agents and there will be other changes that lead to a different group the next time they take the field.
Left tackle Garett Bolles said on Monday that he thinks the team needs “a couple more playmakers” and he thinks that the situation will be an appealing one for players looking for a new place to play.
“People want to come to Denver,” Bolles said, via Luca Evans of the Denver Post. “I mean, I’ll be shocked to see how many free agents want to come here. We got a young team. We got a quarterback. We got the best O-line in football — I don’t care what anyone says. We do.”
One thing that should help the Broncos in the new league year is that they will finally be rid of any salary cap obligations related to Russell Wilson’s contract. Finding the right places to spend that money will be crucial to their hopes of making another run at the Super Bowl at this time next year.
Broncos quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Davis Webb had his second interview with the Raiders on Monday night.
The Raiders announced the completion of that interview. It was their second of the day as they also had their second meeting with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
Webb also interviewed with the Bills for the first time on Monday and Brady has also met with his employers about succeeding Sean McDermott. The Cardinals and Browns are the only other teams currently looking for a new head coach.
The Raiders also had a second interview with Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and they interviewed former Giants head coach Brian Daboll last weekend. Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak had a virtual interview with the team earlier this month and could have a second interview this week, but there’s been no word of one being on the schedule at this point.
Say what you will about Sean Payton’s fateful decision to go for it on fourth down in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC Championship, but you can’t say this: It was not a product of Payton being beholden to analytics.
Payton has been open about the ongoing influence of numbers in football. For Payton, they’re simply a piece of the puzzle. When he makes a move that seems to be driven by analytics, he’s not doing so at the behest of the Ivy League mathematician whispering in his ear. It’s Payton’s decision, influenced by all of the factors — including how he feels about the play he plans to call.
Indeed, and as reported by Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, Payton had a decidedly old-school reaction when Bears coach Ben Johnson passed on a field goal to cap the opening drive of the divisional game against the Rams.
“Kick it,” Payton said.
After the play failed (the Rams intercepted the Bears near the goal line), Payton added, “Why are coaches not kicking field goals?”
The ESPN-Analytics-Say-Go vibe has taken over the sport in recent years, with coaches clinging to slim differences in percentages to justify being “aggressive!” Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. (And for some teams, like the Lions, the commitment to going for it removes all unpredictability from the moment.)
On Sunday, Payton seemingly zigged when he otherwise would have been expected to zag. He told Wickersham the goal was to go up 14-0, even thought 10-0 (and two scores) may have been good enough. And Payton thought he had the right play.
But there was a problem. And this is a credit to Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. He had self-scouted. He broke a tendency. He gave the Broncos a look that made it appear the play would work. At the snap, the Patriots shifted into a defense that neutralized the play.
“The look they showed on film, and the look we saw, wasn’t the look we got,” Payton told Wickersham.
That’s a huge part of the go-for-it decision. Calling the right play. And thinking the play that was called will work. There are many factors that influence the outcome. And many factors that determine the decision to go for it.
For Payton, it’s never about blind adherence to math. He ultimately made a decision based on all factors. And the Patriots ultimately disguised the defense they’d use to make the Broncos think the play they’d called would work.
Which overlooks another key factor in the go-for-it decision. Will the defense ultimately have a strategy for stopping that play you think will deliver success? When facing the Patriots and Vrabel, it’s worth taking seriously the prospect that they’ll be ready.
Still, it’s fair to believe Payton should have taken the points. Going up by 10 points could have meant everything, especially given the dramatic turn in the weather. And especially since a two-score game may have prompted an inexperienced quarterback to try a little too hard and to make a mistake that could open the floodgates for the Broncos.
Running back J.K. Dobbins was having a great season in his first year with the Broncos. It ended in Week 10 due to a foot injury. He wants it to in 2026 and beyond.
Dobbins explained his desire to stay in Denver to reporters on Monday.
“It starts with the ownership,” Dobbins said. “They get us everything that we need to be successful here. . . . There were things I would ask [owner Greg] Penner, and he would get it to us. He would get it to me. Then my man, coach Sean Payton, I love him to death. He’s one of my favorite coaches ever. Then [running backs] coach Lou Ayeni, too. It has been a great process with everyone here. Then the offensive line, and just like everybody, the brothers, and like the defense. I even felt like I was part of the defense because they wanted me here. [Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph] wanted me here. So it’s just been a great time here in my short time. I think that I’ll be here. Hopefully, I will. I think I’m a Bronco for life.”
Even if Dobbins (who had 772 rushing yards in 10 games) isn’t back in 2026, his connection to RJ Harvey will continue.
“I’ve been trying to give him feedback and all that stuff,” Dobbins said of Harvey. “Yesterday’s loss was tough, right? We weren’t successful on the ground. And I just tell them, ‘You have to just go back to the film and don’t worry about what the outside people are saying because they’re going to be on your butt, but you’re going to get better.’ I’m going to help him get better even if I’m not here. He’s my rookie forever. His name, I’m attached to him, and I want to make sure he gets better. So that’s my job, and I will.”
Dobbins becomes a free agent on March 11, unless he signs a new contract with the Broncos before then.
Still only 27, Dobbins has played well when healthy. He’s had back luck with a variety of injuries, however, and he’s yet to put together a full season with the kind of numbers that his game-by-game performances would generate.
