Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton may be taking the headset back.
A rumor that began with a former Broncos receiver was later described as confirmed by Pro Football Talk, which reported that the head coach will resume calling offensive plays and pull those duties from offensive coordinator Davis Webb for Week 5.
“I’m hearing that Sean Payton is going to be taking over play calling this week,” Brandon Stokley wrote on X Wednesday. “Should be an interesting week.”
Mike Florio wrote the next day that his group had confirmed the report.
“The Davis Webb experiment is over,” Florio wrote. “Webb, who was promoted to offensive coordinator in the offseason and given the keys to the play-calling car, will have those keys rescinded this weekend, when the Broncos face the Chargers.”
Florio traced the move to a stretch that began with Denver’s opening loss to the Chiefs. In that 31-10 defeat, the Broncos managed 176 yards from scrimmage as a team, fewer than Kenneth Walker III produced by himself in his Kansas City debut.
Florio said the timing fits, with a winless Chargers team next and a Thursday night game against the Seahawks waiting in Week 6, giving Payton a chance to settle in before a short week.
“Ultimately, it’s Payton’s team,” Florio wrote. “He needs to do whatever he thinks he should do to help the Broncos meet the high bar for 2026 that was created by their success in 2025. And the clock is ticking. Loudly.”
The picture inside the building has not been that clean.
Before Florio’s item, KOA’s Benjamin Allbright said he was “aware of Twitter rumor” and quoted a Broncos source: “Saw that – hadn’t heard it and it didn’t look that way in practice.”
Allbright later wrote that a source had texted him the night before, “so apparently the whole building wasn’t on the same page as of Wednesday evening of game week.”
Payton, speaking to reporters on October 7, brushed off the idea that the name on the call sheet is the issue.
“I think our focus needs to be more on the specifics and the detail of each play regardless. And I think Davis is very fast and quick and understands what we’re doing. So, I appreciate the question, but I think that the most important job I have is, really, evaluating the whys,” he said. “I think we’re all, after a game–and after a four-game sample size–look at, all right, certainly this isn’t championship football or what we see. How quickly can we correct those things?”
Denver kept Webb through the offseason even as other teams showed interest in him for coordinator openings. Play-calling had been treated as part of that package. Payton had given the job up in part because he felt a tick slower making decisions.
The offense that finished 10th in yards and 14th in scoring in 2025 sits 27th in both categories through four weeks. Whether the reported switch actually happens, and what it would mean for Payton, Webb, and the offense, is still an open question.
