Broncos fill OC vacancy by promoting asst. Webb

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sean Payton’s search for a new offensive coordinator ended just down the hall from his office.

The Denver Broncos announced Monday that Payton has promoted Davis Webb from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator and Logan Kilgore, a Broncos offensive assistant for the past three seasons, to quarterbacks coach.

Webb interviewed to be head coach with the Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens while he also was a target for several other teams to be an offensive coordinator, including the New York Giants. Payton, who fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi last week, had also interviewed Washington assistant head coach/passing game coordinator Brian Johnson and Bills quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry to replace Lombardi.

The move keeps Webb, who Payton has said has been pivotal in quarterback Bo Nix‘s development over the past two seasons, with the Broncos. It also makes Webb an even more important voice in the offense with the exits of Lombardi, who had been with Payton for 15 years, and Pete Carmichael, who had been on a Payton staff for 18 years.

Carmichael was hired to be the Bills’ offensive coordinator.

Last week Nix called Webb “an awesome coach,” and added that Webb “really knows how to communicate with players. With me, he’s told me in two years, to consolidate, make things simple and just keep the main the main thing. Taking a lot of information, a lot of knowledge and just roll right into it. I think highly of him.”

The question that lingers, at least until Payton emerges publicly to speak to it, is whether Webb will have playcalling duties. As a head coach, Payton has always been his team’s playcaller and during this past season, when the subject of surrendering playcalling duties was broached, he quickly swatted the notion away with “no, I think we’re comfortable as an offensive staff with how we’re operating.”

Webb, who played six seasons at quarterback with the Giants, Jets and Bills before he began his coaching career, did call plays in the Broncos’ preseason finale last summer — a 27-7 victory over the Arizona Cardinals — because Payton said he wanted to give Webb the opportunity to do it in a game.

The makeover of the offensive staff — wide receivers coach Keary Colbert was also fired last week — comes after a 14-3 season for the Broncos that ended with a 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. The Broncos, powered by one of the league’s best defenses, went 11-2 in one-score games in the regular season.

But Payton had expressed his frustrations about the offense at various times this season, including last week in the aftermath of the loss to the Patriots. The Broncos were 14th in the regular season in scoring — 23.6 points per game — 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR.

In his end-of-season wrap-up last week, Payton expressed particular frustration with the team’s run game and said he had already met with run game coordinator/assistant head coach Zach Strief, who also coaches the offensive line, about plotting a plan for improvement.

“That’ll be an important study and with urgency, and then also with the runners, who are we asking [to carry the ball],” Payton said. ” … I think that we research and look into heavily. I want to play from the gun, but I also will always want to play with a two-back or multiple tight end mindset [and] have that flexibility … I think it’s one of the key things that we have to do this offseason.”

Though he didn’t play after Nov. 6 because of a foot injury, running back J.K. Dobbins still led the Broncos in rushing by over 200 yards and finished with the most runs of at least 10 yards (21), seven more than the next running back.

But the Broncos were also 14th in the league in scoring as well as 29th in percentage of drives that ended in a three-and-out after they were near the bottom of the league in 2024 as well. Courtland Sutton was also the only Broncos player among the league’s top 48 in receptions of at least 10 yards.