As the sun rose on the first full day of the Bo Nix era in Denver, Davis Webb launched a retrieval mission from Centennial Airport.
Just about 10 hours prior, the Broncos took their biggest swing yet in an eight-year quest to solve the franchise’s post-Peyton Manning quarterback woes when they selected Nix No. 12 overall in the NFL draft.
With the sky turned orange, hope dawned anew on the Front Range and Webb climbed aboard a private jet short on sleep and long on excitement.
A couple of hours later, the sole passenger landed in Alabama where he greeted Nix and his parents, wife and brother. They all got back on board and doubled back to Colorado, where a Friday full of introductions, media, photos and hoopla ensued.
Webb watched Nix’s introductory news conference from the flank and always seemed to be nearby as the new Denver quarterback worked his way through the car-wash afternoon.
The intended message — that Webb, the Broncos’ 29-year-old quarterbacks coach, is going to be there for Nix at every turn as NFL life accelerates from post-draft glow through offseason acclimation and into the warp speed of the regular season — came through loud and clear.
“I love Davis already,” Nix told The Denver Post that day as he walked across the grass practice fields at his new home. “I know he’s been through exactly what I’ve been through. He understands it. He understands the position, he understands the game, he understands the league. And he’s already a mentor to me because he’s going to teach me so much. I’m going to be able to present myself in a way that’s good because he’s giving me an opportunity to learn.”
There is not a player on the Broncos’ roster who has a bigger say in the franchise’s future than Nix.
There is not a person in the building with more on the line in terms of legacy than head coach Sean Payton.
But Webb, the former backup quarterback who jumped right into coaching a year ago, enters this new era as a key piece of the puzzle in a quarterback room that looks about as different as possible from 2023.
New but familiar room
Football is a small world and the quarterback fraternity is even smaller.
Consider the ties in the Broncos quarterback room alone.
Jarrett Stidham hosted Nix on his official visit to Auburn in 2019.
Stidham is a Stephenville, Texas, native whose college career started in 2015 at Baylor. So he knew all about Webb, a Prosper, Texas, native who played 2013-15 at Texas Tech.
“We go way back,” Stidham told The Post. “I’ve known him since I was 15, 16 years old back when he was at Texas Tech. We have a different relationship, I would say, than probably most quarterbacks and quarterbacks coaches.”
Webb played with Baker Mayfield at Tech, then backed up Patrick Mahomes for a year before transferring to Cal. He was a third-round pick in 2017. Two years later, Stidham went in the fourth round after he’d transferred from Baylor to Auburn.
Three years after that, Nix was calling Stidham for advice as he considered transferring to Oregon.
Now Nix and Stidham are joined by Zach Wilson under the tutelage of Webb in Denver’s quarterback room.
Wilson may have less direct connection than the other three, but he, too, already raves about Webb.
“He’s phenomenal,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t speak enough about Davis. I think he does a great job, just the player-to-coach relationship and his understanding of, one, how to transition to being a coach so quickly. … But his ability to transition between both and share his experience and the things he’s gone through and also be a coach at the same time is really impressive.”
The Dragon
In Buffalo, the weekly Dragon reports were the stuff of legend.
Webb would compile essentially an advanced scouting report on upcoming opponents. He started doing it in 2017 in New York at Eli Manning’s request and kept up the practice when he got to the Bills in 2019 after a year with the Jets.
His nickname, Dragon, made the move upstate, too. The origins of the nickname are a secret, Webb has said in the past, but a former teammate gets out a fair cover story after a laugh.
“He’s just always getting after it and he’s kind of that fireball,” quarterback Matt Barkley, who crossed over with Webb in Buffalo in 2019-20, told The Post of the nickname originally bestowed by Manning.
What Barkley did figure out is what almost everybody who met Webb during his playing days seemed to deduce: The guy was going to be a coach whenever he decided to stop playing.
“I haven’t been with him as a coach, but just being with him in the room, he’s just very bright, smart, sees everything,” Barkley said. “… He’s been preparing for coaching probably since the day he started playing football. He’s just always had a knack for it and a good eye for seeing what he wants. He’s just dialed in in every way.”
The Dragon report showed it off every Friday.
“Anything that was missed during the week he’d cover, especially for some of the young guys still learning the offense,” Barkley said, adding that coverages, tendencies, personnel and just about anything else could be in the report. “In a way, it was him already coaching.”
At this point, the story is well known. Buffalo coach Sean McDermott tried to hire Webb after the 2021 season, but Webb wanted to play one more year. He went back to the Giants, where former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was the head coach, ended up on the practice squad most of the year, threw 40 passes in Week 18 and then weeks later took Sean Payton’s job offer in Denver.
Payton knew Webb was highly sought-after. He has told the story multiple times about being blown away by Webb’s interview and moving quickly to hire him.
What did he learn watching Webb work for a year?
“He was tremendous on keeping things simple and knowing how to read certain plays and how to approach the game,” Payton said. “I think he’s very positive with these guys. … Davis brings energy, experience and almost like that wily veteran quarterback that’s in the room, which I think is a plus.”
Stidham, the lone holdover, saw it firsthand.
“There’s a certain way he teaches,” Stidham said. “He understands how the game has evolved. He doesn’t over-teach and he doesn’t under-teach. He gets that football is a reactionary sport. So, yeah, on paper you can say one thing, but then you get out there and you feel just a little bit of movement from a linebacker or a safety.
“He’s been so good.”
The big challenge
Webb’s first season wasn’t without tribulation, of course. Russell Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowler, had years of experience, but his play style clashed with Payton from the start.
It was Webb’s job, in a way, to bridge the gap. To figure out some synergy for oil and water. To be a thorough coach but also the good cop.
Multiple times when Payton lit into Wilson on the sideline, it was Webb standing next to Wilson and standing up for him. Those are mere moments in hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work over the course of the season, but high-profile ones nonetheless.
Wilson got benched with two games remaining in the season, then got an $85 million pink slip earlier this spring.
Now the challenge for Webb is much different. He’s got a trio of quarterbacks whom Payton likes but recently referred to collectively as “orphan dogs.”
All three are unproven at the pro level. Any could make a case for the starting job, though as the team’s first-round pick this spring Nix will likely be tough to unseat.
All will rely on Webb to be part teacher, part technician, and, most likely, part therapist.
“He just understands things in a different way because he literally just played the position two years ago,” Stidham said. “There’s things you can talk to him about where he totally gets it. He’s never cussing or screaming at you. He’s been there, done that. He’ll say, ‘Why did you do what you did?’ And if you have a reason for it, he’s able to understand those things.”
Payton had an open quarterback race once before as a head coach, in 2021 after Drew Brees retired, but this is essentially uncharted territory for him, too.
He’s been relaxed this spring. He speaks glowingly about Nix and positively about the others.
“Specifically to Bo, he’s doing really well. He’s picking it up,” Payton said Thursday. “There’s a lot that’s going in. He’s throwing the ball extremely well.”
But what happens when the training camp mistakes and lulls arrive just as surely as baking August heat? What happens when the grind of the regular season starts to take its toll, with 14 straight games that count on the docket before the bye week arrives?
Nobody really knows. But this much is certain: Webb will be in the middle of all of it.
“You can’t teach experience,” Barkley said. “There’s little things that vets just know that you don’t even have to cover. At the same time, I think he’s up for the challenge and loves every aspect of that. But it does take away from how deep you can go. … When we were together with Josh (Allen in Buffalo), who had been in pretty much the same offense for four or five years, you start to work on little intricacies, little, little things that might make the difference in a toe-to-toe game. With young guys, you’re just making sure they can get the play-calls out and see the defense correctly.
“That’s a challenge for anyone, but I think he thrives in that situation anyway.”
For a coach as young as Webb, there’s plenty more to consider. If Nix hits right away, Webb’s star will rise almost as quickly. It doesn’t take talented offensive minds long to climb the ranks, but that usually requires team success along with individual.
Barkley’s watched Webb work as a player and a coach. He figures his old running mate Dragon is up for the challenge.
“This is his love language,” Barkley said. “He just thrives off of relaying information and teaching guys and coaching. He’s in a perfect place right now.”
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