During an interview with Kay Adams on the “Up and Adams Show” earlier this week, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton dropped a fascinating nugget about quarterbacks coach Davis Webb.
“Davis Webb is doing a great job,” Payton told Adams. “He just — it’s unusual that you get a quarterbacks coach that literally just finished playing. And then even last season, gets an email from a team about possibly playing still. And he’s coaching that room. So you do have a little bit of a caddie there and a real smart up-and-coming coach who’s working with those guys.”
Payton convinced Webb to step away from playing as a backup quarterback in the NFL to join his coaching staff last year. Apparently, one team last season wanted Webb to make a comeback as a player. Payton did not mention the specific team by name.
Before joining the Broncos as a coach, Davis spent time as a player with the New York Giants (two stints), New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
This certainly isn’t the first time an NFL team has asked a coach to switch to quarterback. During the 2020 season, the Broncos wanted coaches Rob Calabrese and Justin Rascati to suit up as quarterbacks after all of Denver’s QBs were deemed ineligible to play due to COVID-19 protocol.
The Broncos weren’t able to pull it off because NFL rules prevent coaches from playing for their team. Instead, Denver turned to practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton to fill in at QB (and it didn’t go well).
Webb couldn’t play for the Broncos in a pinch, either. He would have to step down from his coaching role and unretire and sign with the team as a player, but the league probably would not allow that to happen on short notice just like it wasn’t allowed with Calabrese and Rascati four years ago.
It’s a moot point, anyway, because Webb seems content to continue coaching. By all accounts, he has transitioned well to the new role.
“I think he does a great job,” quarterback Zach Wilson said earlier this month. “I really love working with him. You wouldn’t think he’s only been in the league coaching for a couple years. He does a phenomenal job [and] is just fun to be around.”
Webb, 29, seems to have a bright future as a coach in the NFL.
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