Davis Webb calls demotion 'disappointing' after Sean Payton reclaims Broncos call sheet

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Davis Webb is leaning on his background as a backup quarterback to help him deal with his demotion as the Denver Broncos' offensive play-caller.

Webb said he's disappointed Sean Payton stripped him of his play-calling duties after just four games but he's eager to see how the offense responds when the Broncos visit the Los Angeles Chargers this weekend.

“Long week in some ways but in other ways, back to work,” Webb said Friday in his first public comments since Payton took back play-calling duties from his new offensive coordinator in a bid to jolt the Broncos’ sputtering offense .

“I'm still in charge of running the offensive meetings and helping out the quarterback room and that’s where we’re at,” Webb said.

Payton met with Webb on Monday and told him he was taking back the call sheet and would be the one in quarterback Bo Nix’s ear once again.

Webb said the talk lasted about an hour but he declined to say whether he fought to keep his play-calling duties: “That was a private conversation; we’ll keep it as such. But it was an hour long and he made a decision and that’s his job. He’s the head coach of the football team and my job now is to do this role even better.”

The talk “probably wasn’t easy for him,” said Webb, who said it was a difficult discussion for himself: “Yeah, I think anytime that happens in any aspect of your life job-wise, it is, a little bit. But in the same breath, that’s the NFL. You get going. I’ve been a backup QB, I’ve been up and down before. And that’s kind of how it goes.”

Webb's four-game tryout came against teams with a combined 13-3 record.

The Broncos' two wins were against the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-1) and the preseason NFC Super Bowl-favorite Los Angeles Rams (2-2) and their two losses were on the road to two of the league's last three remaining unbeaten teams in Kansas City and San Francisco, both 4-0.

So, was four tough games enough of an audition? Webb was asked.

“Luckily, that’s not my job” to decide, Webb said. "That’s his job. But obviously, I think he answered that."

Asked what lessons he took, Webb said, “I think it was a smaller sample size than maybe you would like for a full season, but within the four weeks every week the operation was cleaner."

Although Webb was quicker in getting calls into his quarterback than Payton was last season, allowing Nix more time at the line of scrimmage to survey the field and decipher the defense, that failed to translate into faster starts.

The Broncos have managed just 13 first-half points so far. Nix hasn’t been playing well, the offense has committed a slew of penalties and the run-pass balance has been out of whack.

Payton insisted that despite this demotion, Webb, who went straight from being a backup QB for the New York Giants to serving as Nix’s position coach in 2023, is still on the fast track to becoming an NFL head coach.

Webb had some opportunities to leave Denver in this most recent coaching cycle but he stayed after Payton offered to let him call plays. That opportunity, Webb said last summer, made staying “a no-brainer.”

Given Denver's Super Bowl aspirations, Payton's long resume as one of football's top play-callers and the tough early schedule, Webb said he knew something like this could happen to him this season.

“I've taught myself early to think about the best- and worst-case scenarios," Webb said, “and if you're OK with both, then take that job on.”

Notes: The Broncos re-signed WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey to their practice squad and added CB Ugochukwu Amadi to their practice squad Friday.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here