Denver Broncos

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.

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.

Two new tight ends were added to the AFC Pro Bowl roster on Monday.

Dalton Kincaid of the Bills and Tyler Warren of the Colts will now be headed to San Francisco for next week’s festivities. They replace Travis Kelce of the Chiefs and Brock Bowers of the Raiders.

Kincaid had 39 catches for 571 yards and five touchdowns for the Bills this season. He also had nine catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns. It’s the first time he has been selected for the Pro Bowl.

Warren was a first-round pick last year and led all rookies with 76 catches in the regular season. He picked up 817 yards and four touchdowns on those receptions.