The Broncos Elevating Davis Webb Has a Bigger Meaning

To me, the two most interesting things is we had two teams, one that made it to the playoffs and lost in the first round, and one that made it to the conference championship game, and really a couple of decisions away from the Super Bowl.

And both of them offensive coaches, and both of them turned over play calling duty , which I thought was fascinating.

We had Dave Canales turning over play calling duty to Brad Idzik, saying he needed to take more of a CEO approach to the team, and Sean Payton, uh, turning over play calling duty to Davis Sweat.

I mean, that was, I, I mean, anyone who knows Sean knows how much he likes to be in control.

Now, I'll start.

With the latter one, do you think that this had anything to do, the subtext of this at all, had anything to do with the fact that basically, that loss to the Patriots came down to game management, and he maybe felt like he would be in a position to, to, to do things better.

This one's interesting too, because I, like, my first thought was, like, from a long range perspective, You know, if If you're Sean Payton and you and, and, and this works and Davis Webb goes out and kills it, then you're gonna be like right back to square one again, you know what I mean, for another play caller, um, and you obviously made the move to promote him.

My second thought was that I wondered if this had something to do with the leverage that Davis had and that, you know, I know the Ravens had kicked tires on him, the Giants have kicked tires on him, so.

Um, you know, some of the teams that were out there, you know, looking at potential offensive coordinator candidates would have handed him play calling, so maybe the Broncos felt compelled to do it for that reason.

You know, but then going back to the AFC championship game and the way the game management played into that, it I mean, I don't think Sean would ever admit it because I don't think that, I think rightfully you would never want it to look like one thing cause that sort of change where you've been doing something.

I mean, he's legitimately had a play sheet in his hands since what, like 2000.

1999, something like that.

Yeah, I really, if you go back, like you look at it, Giants OC gets fired from there, goes to Dallas with Parcells, OC there, he's the play caller his whole time in New Orleans and, and now in Denver.

So it's been a part of his job for, I mean, over a quarter century.

So you never would want to like say like, oh yeah, like I'm changing the way I, I've done business for a quarter century and the way that I've won for a quarter century because of One situation like that, however, I wonder if we went back and we really dug into it, and I haven't done this, but I wonder if we went back and we really dug into it if there were a few more of these over the course of the year, you know what I mean, like, and I wonder if there are some things we didn't notice that weren't as obvious where he felt like this or that slipped because I had my head buried in the play sheet.

Um, it's , it's interesting, you know, cause again, like, like you said, like this was.

I mean, the Broncos have been on this trajectory up over Sean Payton's 3 years, so it's not like something is like horribly wrong there.

They've successfully switched out quarterbacks, they've developed Bo Nix.

Um, you could say maybe they would, they, they might have been in the Super Bowl if Bo Nix doesn't get hurt in the last game, last play of the Buffalo game.

Oh yeah.

Then the Panthers, same thing, like the Panthers were in a ditch when Dave Canales got there, and in 2 years, he's got them in the playoffs, and it looks like they're headed up too, so it's just interesting that this isn't like.

This doesn't, this, this isn't not like this, this sort of move is on your checklist, Connor, of like the uh coaching survival checklist.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this, this move is on your checklist, but it doesn't feel like that's what these moves are specifically.

No, no, and, and, and those guys don't need to do that, you know, right.

And before we transition over to Carolina, because I think that's a different thing.

The Denver thing is interesting to me for one more reason.

OK, so let's say you hand off play calling duty to Davis Webb, right?

And he's predictably as good at it as you think he is.

You're only gonna have him for one season.

And so, you know, I, I think it's one of those things where it does that foreshadow for you, um.

A situation where, and, and I guess we could say that the Broncos were air quotes all in last year when they uh kind of went bananas in free agency.

Do you think that this is a team that we have to keep an eye on is like, you know, are they in the mix for someone like AJ Brown?

Are they in conversations for trades for big pieces?

Like, do they think That what happened last year is an indication that they are actually on the doorstep of making it to the Super Bowl again.

Do you think they're not?

I don't know.

I think that, so, so my, my, my, it sounds like you think they're not.

My wires are all crossed on this, and, and I'll tell you what.

Last year, like last calendar year, we were putting a bow on the Commander's season and we were saying, what a fabulous, like, they're, they're ahead of schedule.

OK, now go get Debo Samuel, now trade for Laremy Tunsil, that, you , you know, get rid of all your picks, like, everything's great, when in reality, that run was a reflection of a lot of, like, micro-occurrences that I think really primed the pump.

Denver, It's kind of the same way, right?

Where the AFC fell apart, and now they were, I'm not taking anything away from the fact that they won as many games as they did.

The AFC fell apart, like, every good quarterback got hurt, disappeared, his team missed the playoffs, you know what I mean?

Like, and so for me, it's like, you know, it is, was last year your shot.

And and you can't think this way, if you're an NFL franchise.

I get it.

Like that little.

modicum of doubt is gonna wipe away whatever progress that you've made.

But I'm just wondering, like, is this, like, are they the, and I hate saying this, like the all-in team, every team is all in.

The Ravens fired John Harbaugh, like, you have to be all in every year.

Right, and you know, you do wonder cause .

I wanna say this the right way, um, you do wonder like that question of do you pay Bo Nix, he's eligible for a deal next year.

Um, I think we know where, like, say Jaden bounces back, Caleb builds on last year, Drake builds on last year.

We're talking about those three guys almost certainly in that case if they all ascend like it looks like they can ascend.

All three of those guys, what , what are those guys gonna get, 65, 70, something like that, right?

And like, do you get put in that position where now if you're, if you're, you're Denver, you have to pay Bo Nix that same way, like the same way that the Dolphins got boxed in and had to pay Tua 55 because Justin Herbert got it and because Jordan Love, you know what, like, it wasn't Jordan Love that was Jordan, Jordan Love that same offseason, right?

Yeah, so Jordan Love got it that same offseason after 4 years.

So, like, does the May, Daniels, Williams, like these superhero quarterbacks, who we know the ceiling is there physically for those guys to be top 5 guys, all 3 of them, right?

So does that box you in if you're Denver?

And now are you looking at it like, man, we're gonna be in a weird spot in a year or two, like where we've got to pay Bo Nix that amount of money, and if we can't surround him this way, the way we, we're trying to now, if it changes the way we surround him, does that change the equation for our franchise altogether, you know, and I think it's sort of like the In a way, it's sort of like the Jalen Hurts.

You know, the Jalen Hurts question to me, because the Eagles have been so aggressive in building around him, it's almost like he never got his second contract, but eventually the bill is gonna come due for what the Eagles have been doing, you know.

So it's just you're kind of like, you're still in that grace period where you like, you don't know what this is gonna look like for the next 5 years, 10 years.

I just think it's a little different when you don't have a quarterback that And maybe Bo Nix does become that.

But do we think he's gonna be like Josh Allen just from a value standpoint, or do we think he's gonna be like Patrick Mahomes from a value standpoint?

If he's not, then, you know, I think we're looking at a situation where this window could wind up being more precious than.

Than even the one that the Patriots or Bears or or or Commanders are in, you know, and, and I, I think that, uh, let's, let's remember kind of the essence of this conversation because I think that the Bo Nix, Bo Nix isn't a great, isn't, isn't, isn't a really good player, but if you think he can only be the 7th best quarterback rather than being the 2nd or 3rd best quarterback in the league, right, that can really change the equation because that's what it was with Tua, right, right.