Broncos head coach Sean Payton fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday. Lombardi spent 15 years with Payton — 12 in New Orleans and the past three in Denver.
The move caught many by surprise, but not Lombardi.
“Sean decided to move on, and I guess that’s all there is to say,’’ Lombardi told Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “I don’t think it’s ever a surprise [in the NFL]. Not really. . . . I think you could tell he was in one of those moods where he felt like some changes needed to be made, and I guess he decided one of those was me. So I’ve been around him long enough to kind of read the tea leaves, I guess.”
The move was likely made to retain assistant Davis Webb, the team’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, from leaving. Webb is a popular offensive coordinator candidate for teams in the market, and the Broncos want to keep him.
Lombardi, 54, told Tomasson he did not feel like a scapegoat for the Broncos’ loss in the AFC Championship Game.
“Well, we made it to the AFC Championship,’’ Lombardi said. “I don’t know why there needs to be a scapegoat, so I’m not sure what I’m being scapegoated for. I thought it was a good season. So, no, I didn’t feel like that in any way. I just think he just wanted to go in another direction.”
Lombardi twice left as Payton’s quarterbacks coach for an offensive coordinator job elsewhere. This, though, is the first time Payton has fired him. Lombardi called it “part of the business.”
“I mean, he employed me for a long time. I’m appreciative of that,” he said.
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Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner says quarterback Bo Nix will fully recover from the ankle injury that forced him to miss the AFC Championship Game and has a clean bill of health going forward.
“Zero concern,” Penner said. “His surgery was a straightforward surgery, went very well. Absolutely no issues there or concerns going forward.”
Penner sounds fully invested in Nix as the franchise quarterback for years to come.
“I thought he had a second year quarterback fantastic season,” Penner said. “He won 15 games for us. Showed his mettle in the fourth quarter a lot of times, bringing us back. He would say the same thing, it’s only his second year in the league and he’s got room to grow, and fortunately Bo has a terrific approach of studying, working, he loves the game. I look forward to watching his continued improvement over the coming years.”
Nix also broke his ankle in both high school and college, and head coach Sean Payton said Nix was predisposed to suffering the injury that he had this year. Despite all that, the Broncos are counting on a healthy Nix playing 17 — or more — games a year, for years to come.
A week ago, a massive winter storm sparked optimism that viewership for the conference championship games would skyrocket. Relative to those expectations, the actual performance was more like the last shot from a Roman candle.
Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the average audience for the AFC Championship and NFC Championship fell by 6.7 percent, from 50.8 million in January 2025 to 47.4 million.
The average ends a three-year streak above 50 million as the average audience for both games.
The early game, Patriots-Broncos on CBS, generated the bigger number, at 48.4 million. It was the lowest average for the AFC Championship in four years, when Bengals-Chiefs attracted 47.9 million.
Rams-Seahawks on Fox averaged 46.1 million. While up from 44.2 million who watched the Eagles blow out the Commanders in the early window a year ago, the prime-time game dropped from 57.4 million last year for Bills-Chiefs. It was the lowest NFC Championship audience since Packers-49ers landed at 43 million in January 2020.
Karp’s article mentions “likely suppressed out-of-home viewership” due to the weather. But wouldn’t folks who have watched it at a bar or a restaurant or a friend’s house watched it at home?
The better explanation seems to be this: Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes. They were the four quarterbacks last year. Remove star players from the equation (Travis Kelce, too), and the games have less inherent sizzle.
Jim Leonhard was already a popular defensive coordinator candidate and now another team would like to speak with him.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Chargers have put in a request to interview Leonard for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Lenohard, 43, has been with the Broncos since 2024. He was the club’s defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in his first year before being promoted to assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator for 2025.
The Bills have strong interest in bringing in Leonhard as their defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady. The Jets also have interviewed Leonhard for their vacancy.
Broncos quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Davis Webb has received interest as a head coaching candidate this month and he’s also a candidate for another move up the coaching ladder.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Webb has received requests from the Eagles, Giants, and Ravens to interview for their offensive coordinator openings. The Giants and Ravens have new head coaches while the Eagles are looking for a new coordinator after relieving Kevin Patullo of those duties.
Any decision about pursuing those jobs could be tied to the Raiders’ plans at head coach. Webb has interviewed with them twice for the position with the most recent coming on Monday. Joe Brady and Brian Daboll were also candidates in Vegas, but Brady became the Bills’ head coach Tuesday while Daboll has signed on as the Titans’ offensive coordinator.
The Broncos also fired their offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday, so there could be a chance for Webb to earn a promotion without leaving Denver. Head coach Sean Payton calls the team’s offensive plays, however, and Webb would have the opportunity to do that role with the other teams interested in his services.
Broncos coach Sean Payton has had some time to reflect on his decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss in the AFC Championship Game, and he says the mistake he made was calling a bad play, not going for it.
“I don’t know which is the greater regret, the decision — certainly the play call,” Payton said.
After quarterback Jarrett Stidham ran for five yards on third-and-6, Payton called timeout to think about what he wanted to do on fourth-and-1. Payton wishes he had come up with a better play than the incomplete pass Stidham threw, which never looked like it had a chance.
“We used a timeout,” Payton said. “Probably what irks me more is the call, more than the decision.”
Payton has been criticized for not kicking a 32-yard field goal, especially considering that there was snow coming in the second half and points were going to be at a premium. Payton indicated the snow turned out to be worse than the forecast he had seen.
“It’s still early in the game, and we knew that there would be flurries — well, we have a new feel for flurries here,” Payton said.
Payton said he wishes he could do it over again but will never listen to the criticism of his call because coaches who concern themselves with criticism don’t win.
“There are those moments you wish you had back,” Payton said. “I don’t pay attention to all the criticism. If I paid attention to that, I don’t know that we’d ever be in this position.”
The Broncos fired two other coaches besides offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday.
The team announced it has parted ways with Lombardi, wide receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch.
“I want to thank these coaches for playing an important role in elevating our program over the last three seasons,” Payton said in a statement. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Joe Lombardi for 15 years and am particularly grateful for his many contributions to our success as offensive coordinator.
“We sincerely appreciate Joe, Keary and Addison’s hard work and wish them all the best in the future.”
Lombardi worked with Payton in three different stints, including the past three as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Payton, though, is the play caller.
Lombardi’s departure could mean a promotion for quarterbacks coach Davis Webb if he remains in Denver. Webb is a frontrunner for the Raiders’ head coaching job. The Broncos, though, will have to interview at least two minority candidates to comply with the Rooney Rule.
Colbert, 43, has served as the team’s receivers coach the past three seasons. The Broncos’ wide receivers, though, were among the worst teams in the NFL at dropping passes.
Lynch, 35, started with the Broncos as a quality control coach in 2023 and was promoted to cornerbacks coach this season.
The Broncos are making a significant change to their coaching staff.
According to NFL Media, Denver has fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.
Lombardi, 54, had been with Denver since 2023 when Sean Payton was hired as head coach. The move reunited the two men, as Lombardi served as offensive assistant under Payton with the Saints from 2007-2013 and 2016-2020.
Lombardi also served as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator under former head coach Brandon Staley from 2021-2022.
The Broncos could promote from within to replace Lombardi. Passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb — who is up for the Raiders head coaching job — would ostensibly be a strong candidate to take over the role. But it seems unlikely that Payton would give up offensive play-calling duties to whoever takes over at OC.
News of Broncos quarterback Bo Nix’s broken ankle in the divisional round of the playoffs came as a surprise since he played the entire overtime win over the Bills, but head coach Sean Payton indicated on Tuesday the injury was inevitable.
Payton said that the surgeon that operated on Nix last week said that operation uncovered signs of a problem “coming sooner than later” for the 2024 first-round pick.
“What was found was a condition that was predisposed — they always find a little more when they go in,” Payton said in a press conference. “It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when. When you look at the play and you’re trying to evaluate it — the doctor, the operating surgeon said that this was going to happen sooner than later.”
Nix also broke bones in his ankle in high school and college, but Payton said that the team is not concerned about Nix’s long-term health as a result of his latest injury and the subsequent discovery by doctors. Payton said that Nix will “go about the rehab, proper orthotics, all those things” and that the outlook is “fairly optimistic” about how soon Nix will be ready to return to football activity.
The Bills promoted Joe Brady to head coach on Tuesday. Brady apparently already knows who he wants as his defensive coordinator.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Broncos defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonhard is expected to be a leading candidate to become the next defensive coordinator for the Bills.
The Bills have to comply with the Rooney Rule before hiring Leonhard.
After eight seasons in the college ranks, Leonhard joined the Broncos in 2024 as defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator. He added the title of assistant head coach in 2025.
Bobby Babich has served as the defensive coordinator for the Bills for the past two seasons. In 2024, the Bills ranked 11th in scoring defense (21.6) and 17th in total defense (341.5). The Bills were seventh (293.1) in total offense and 12th in scoring (21.5) in 2025.
