Questions About Davis Webb Getting a Fair Shake Are Fair Game

The Denver Broncos have a new play caller, and he’s the same as the old play caller. Coach Sean Payton took back the keys to the offense on Thursday, and what turned out to be a four-game experiment had writers like Nick Kosmider of the Athletic asking the obvious question:

Did Davis Webb get a fair shake? 

Payton danced around that question in his comments to the media, and it’s clear that Webb isn’t being demoted, as Kosmider noted. The sample size is small, but receiver Courtland Sutton offered what may have been the best take, which is that “we all have our hands in this pot.”

Payton is focusing on the details this week as the Broncos prepare to hit the road to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Kosmider also noted that the coach is betting on the “instincts” that Payton has cultivated in over two decades as a head coach. 

It’s probably the right move for him given his experience and the fact that he’s responsible for the final product, but it remains to be seen if this situation is going to be a black mark on Webb’s career going forward. 

It’s also fair to wonder if Webb is thinking about those opportunities he reportedly had in the offseason. Some had him stepping up to be a coordinator with a new team, while others had him interviewing for head coaching jobs. 

They may also have been in the AFC West, which would have forced Payton to face his charge across the field, which he described as a “pain in the [expletive]” during the offseason. 

Webb is scheduled to talk to the media on Friday, and it will be interesting to see what he has to say about all this. Payton said his coordinator was “fantastic” with the way he handled the news, but Payton has also been known to try and get ahead of contrary accounts of what may or may not be happening with his team. 

We’ll learn more about this on Sunday against the Chargers. Will Payton do things dramatically differently? Will the players step up knowing that the man who authorizes their paychecks will be giving the marching orders from play to play?

The limitations on what we learn might be the Chargers themselves. They’re awful, which will make it easier for the Broncos to look better after running a schedule gauntlet that included the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. Denver is 2-2, and Sunday could just be the first chapter in this running story.