Mile High Report
The biggest change for the Denver Broncos this season is who calls the plays on offense.
When Broncos head coach Sean Payton decided to give play-calling duties to Davis Webb in February, that was surprising as well. It’s not easy to relinquish something when you’re really good at it, and that’s what Payton has been as an offensive playcaller over the course of his coaching career in the NFL. But it also speaks to the trust that Payton has in Webb to take on that role.
One of the looming questions will be what the Broncos offense looks like with Webb as the playcaller. After a minicamp practice in June, Payton was asked if the offense would be his or Webb’s.
“It’s the Broncos’ (offense). I said this at the beginning, and I mean it. I’m fully supportive of wanting us to be successful because when you get older, you just want to win. You always want to win, but you recognize maybe some of the things, maybe mistakes that you made when you were younger, where you paid too much attention to other things.
“The same, it’s our defense. That has to be the approach. The independent one side of the ball, this side … That’s not us, and it won’t be because in order to play real good defense, there are certain things you have to do offensively. That complementary football had a lot to do with how we ended up with a lot of wins a year ago. So we’ll be mindful of all of it.”
Tied to that is Webb’s offensive philosophy. What he’ll do differently and what he’ll do the same will be interesting to see over the course of training camp, the preseason, and then the regular season.
“I think all of us, sometimes, we can’t control who our influences are,” Payton said to the media after minicamp practice. “Sometimes we can. My first job (was) in Philadelphia as an assistant. It wasn’t like I was choosing. He’s been around some real good offenses, sharp minds. So you take those things that you think are important. Then collectively, we put it out as our offense.
“The key is, ‘What does it fit with our people?’ I think he’s good at that. He understands that. It moves with the personnel that moves in and out of it. It moves with (QB) Bo Nix, ‘What does he do well?’ It moves with the pieces of the players that are in there. So I think that’s most important.”
In the end, it all comes down to Nix. What Webb does to play off Nix’s strengths and how he best sets the offense up to succeed are paramount to Denver’s success this season. The addition of offensive playmaker Jaylen Waddle will play a huge part in this offense. Remember, Webb made the comparison of Nix getting Waddle to Josh Allen getting Stefon Diggs.
But getting more consistent in the running...
