Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph isn’t the only member of Sean Payton’s staff on the radar of their AFC West rivals in their head coaching search.
The Las Vegas Raiders also requested permission to interview assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, who joined the Broncos immediately after his retirement as a player following the 2022 season. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero was first to report the move.
Webb was promoted to assistant head coach last offseason along with Zach Strief and Jim Leonhard following his work with Bo Nix during a successful rookie campaign that saw the 2024 first-round pick improve from a shaky first month to guide the Broncos to their first postseason appearance in nine years.
Nix’s growth under Webb’s tutelage continued in 2025, as he improved his QBR from 53.5 to 58.5 and his EPA/play from 0.090 to 0.101 as the Broncos improved from 19th to 10th in the NFL in total offense, giving Payton his first top-10 offense since Drew Brees’ retirement.
WEBB CALLED PLAYS FOR BRONCOS DURING THE PRESEASON
Payton gave Webb the play-calling duties during a 27-7 preseason win over the Arizona Cardinals last August, continuing a common practice of his to give assistant coaches the chance to call plays in preseason games.
Denver’s offense roared to 24 first-half points with Webb at the helm.
“That experience is invaluable,” Payton said at the time. “Until you do it, it’s much faster than you think compared to the college game.
“… You want to make a good impression, but he did a good job. He did a really good job.”
Still, Webb lacks regular-season play-calling experience, so, it’s possible the interview could be about evaluating his potential candidacy for an offensive coordinator role — perhaps under Joseph, who already has requests from five teams for interviews during the Broncos’ wild-card bye.
Webb is just 30 years old and turns 31 on Jan. 22; if he lands a head-coaching job this cycle, he would become the NFL’s youngest current head coach.
If hired by the Raiders as a head coach, he would become the second-youngest head coach in modern NFL history behind Sean McVay, who was 30 years and 354 days of age when the Los Angeles Rams hired him in January 2017. The earliest the Raiders could hire him is on January 18, at which point Webb would be 30 years and 362 days of age.
