Giants Wanted Broncos Coach to Come Play QB in Middle of 2023 Season
It was a roller coaster of a season for the New York Giants at the quarterback position. After opting to re-up on a deal with Daniel Jones over the summer for a hefty four-year, $160 million deal, things ended up taking a turn for the worse when the QB tore his ACL just six games into the 2023 season.
The campaign-ending injury effectively threw a massive wrench into New York's plans for the year. Head coach Brian Daboll was forced to turn toward other options on the roster, such as Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito, but neither ended up as a sustainable answer.
Now, it seems the Giants potentially had another signal caller in mind to bring in during last season, and it's a bit of a bizarre one.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton appeared on the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams, alongside Jones and former Giants QB Eli Manning. Payton went on to describe how the Giants expressed interest in bringing Broncos QBs coach Davis Webb back to play the position amid their offensive troubles.
"When [Jones] got hurt this year," Payton said, "Davis [Webb] got a call about 'can you come back to play?' And, I'm like, 'Davis, you took this job. You're coaching!' And then, there's some rule in our league that if you sign a coaching contract for that year, you cannot play... Anyway, I thought we were going to lose our quarterback coach to the Giants."
The 29-year-old Webb spent a short time as a quarterback in the NFL. He was a third-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft but only ended up playing two seasons in the league with the Giants and Buffalo Bills.
This past season, Webb opted to focus on the Xs and Os with the opportunity to join Payton's staff was presented to him — just weeks after starting at quarterback for the Giants in the season finale. It wasn't long before another opportunity to play the position came his way.
Webb only had one start for the Giants across his career, a game in which he threw for 168 yards and a touchdown on a 57.5% completion rate. In New York's desperation, it seems it was ready to give Webb another shot before league rules shut it down.
It's not often you see a coach get the chance to go from the sideline to the playing field, let alone in the middle of the season, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Daboll worked with Webb during his time as the offensive coordinator in Buffalo and ended up following him after his head coaching hire in New York.
Bringing in a familiar face who knows the offensive system to help be a stop-gap was the idea here, but it ultimately ended up being a pipe dream. With the season now at a close and the 2024 offseason on tap, Webb can focus on his current situation in Denver alongside the team's search for an answer of their own at quarterback.
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