Denver Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton wasted no time making changes after his team’s Super Bowl dream ended at Mile High. Following a dominant 14-3 regular season and a Divisional Round win, the Broncos saw their playoff run stop with a 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. Just two days later, Payton announced a major coaching shakeup by parting ways with three members of his coaching staff – cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch, wide receivers coach Keary Colbert, and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.

“I want to thank these coaches for playing an important role in elevating our program over the last three seasons,” Sean Payton said in his end-of-season press conference on January 27. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Joe Lombardi for 15 years and am particularly grateful for his many contributions to our success as offensive coordinator. We sincerely appreciate Joe, Keary, and Addison’s hard work and wish them all the best in the future.”

Colbert and Lombardi joined the Broncos back in February 2023, while Lynch arrived a month later. But Lombardi’s time working with Sean Payton goes way back. Lombardi also worked as Payton’s assistant from 2007 to 2013, when he was working with the New Orleans Saints. So why did Payton decide to move on from such a trusted coaching staff?

The Broncos’ offensive unit didn’t look bad wither under Lombardi this past season. The unit finished the season ranked 10th in offensive EPA while averaging 23.6 points per game. Still, when it mattered most, Denver’s offense stalled. The Broncos managed to score just 7 points in the AFC Championship game. To make matters worse, Broncos’ star quarterback Bo Nix missed that game with a season-ending ankle injury.

But Payton’s frustration didn’t stop with the offense’s overall production under Lombardi. Earlier in the same season-end presser, he also pointed to technical issues in Denver’s wide receiver room under Keary Colbert, especially when it came to drops.

“Yes, there were too many [drops] even down the stretch,” Sean Payton said. “The thing with the draft, man, we’ve invested, and I like the players in that room. We’ve got different… We have speed, we have size, we have all the things I’m used to [and] you’d want to have in a good offense.”

“But I think that there’s a proper way to catch a football, and most of the time, it’s with your thumbs together, not the other way around,” Payton added. “The other way around, I’m serious, only exists when the ball is below your belly button. Even the deep balls should be caught with your thumbs together. So we have to be better at that.”

According to SportRadar, the Broncos finished the 2025 season with the NFL’s second-highest drop rate. 1 out of every 9.98 catchable passes for the Broncos hit the ground. To be fair, Colbert had to work with an inconsistent WR group that included Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Courtland Sutton, and Pat Bryant. Among the receivers with at least 25 targets, Marvin actually posted the best drop rate, with just one drop on 50 catchable passes. 

Still, as a unit, the Broncos’ WR room simply wasn’t reliable enough, so Colbert had to go. But then there’s Sean Payton’s decision to move on from Addison Lynch, despite Denver’s cornerbacks group having some real bright spots this past season. Under Lynch, Denver’s cornerbacks – Ja’Quan McMillian, Riley Moss, and Patrick Surtain II – all played well. McMillian even made several key plays, including his interception of a pivotal pass from Bills QB Josh Allen late in the Divisional Round game. 

But under Lynch, Denver’s secondary also could not force many turnovers, finishing the season with just 10 interceptions. And it could be a factor in Sean Payton’s decision to fire Lynch. Still, it’s hard to ignore that Joe Lombardi’s firing feels like the most strategic move of the three.

Did Sean Payton fire his OC to keep another coordinator in Denver?

The timing of Joe Lombardi’s dismissal doesn’t feel random at all in Denver. Recently, the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator, Davis Webb, has been drawing serious interest for head coaching jobs around the league. Webb has already interviewed for the vacant HC position with the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, and Las Vegas Raiders. If he doesn’t land one of those head coaching jobs, could Sean Payton be lining him up for a promotion?

Shortly after Lombardi’s firing, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that this situation is directly tied to the Raiders’ pursuit of Daniel Webb.

“Based on NFL rules, they [Denver Broncos] can’t just say, ‘Ok, Davis Webb, it is your job. What they can do is incentivize him to stay and potentially end up giving him the job,” Rapoport said recently on The Insiders. “The fact that he is in the building right now for a rival interviewing for a head coaching opportunity and a strong candidate, these things are all related. Now, we’ll see where it shakes out for the Las Vegas Raiders and for the Broncos, but things do not happen in a vacuum. Certainly, they are all related.”

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While Daniel Webb has earned league-wide interest, his experience working with Denver’s offense also makes him a strong internal candidate to become Sean Payton’s next OC. But the Raiders are clearly trying to tempt him away. And according to CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson, Webb also enjoyed getting in touch with the Raiders.

“Had a chance to speak with Davis Webb this week… Webb enjoyed his first int with Raiders and said talking with Brady was awesome,” Wolfson wrote in an X post on January 26.

So, Webb seems like a man who’s at least considering the move to Las Vegas. But Sean Payton doesn’t seem thrilled about the idea of losing Webb. When asked about Webb potentially leaving for Las Vegas, Payton said in the season-end presser, “It would be a pain in the a– for him [Webb].”  

If Webb takes the Raiders job, he’ll have to face the AFC West teams coached by Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, and Payton himself at least twice every season. On top of that, the Raiders’ roster still has plenty of holes, even if they’re expected to draft Indiana Hoosiers QB Fernando Mendoza this year. So Payton’s message to Webb is clear: stay put in Denver.