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.
