The Broncos may be building toward something even bigger than another strong season in 2026, and that’s exactly why this PFF list is the kind of thing Denver fans won’t love seeing.
Both Vance Joseph and Davis Webb landed among Bradley Locker’s 15 head coaching candidates entering the 2026 season, a reminder that the Broncos’ coaching staff has become one of the league’s more attractive pipelines. That’s good news in one sense. It also means Denver could be staring at the possibility of losing two of its most important assistants after the season.
Joseph’s return to Denver in 2023 has helped anchor a defense that has become one of the league’s best. Locker pointed to how the unit has been coached, how sound it has looked, and how Joseph has gotten real production out of players such as Ja’Quan McMillian, Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Alex Singleton and others. He also noted that over the last two seasons, the Broncos have allowed just 257 explosive plays, the third-fewest in the NFL.
There’s still the matter of Joseph’s previous run as Broncos head coach, when he went 11-21. Locker acknowledged that those results may still sit in the minds of executives, but also made the case that Joseph has done enough since then, whether in Arizona or Denver, to warrant another shot.
Webb’s rise has been a little different, but just as real. He has spent the last three seasons working closely with Sean Payton, learning from one of the sport’s most respected offensive minds.
While Denver’s offense has been fairly average in that span - 19th in EPA per play and 20th in success rate - Webb has played a key role in Bo Nix’s development. Locker pointed out that Nix has turned in two 77.1-plus-graded seasons, and also reminded readers that Webb was in the same quarterback room as Josh Allen in Buffalo from 2019-21.
This offseason, Webb was handed play-calling duties by Payton in part to keep him in Denver and away from division rival Las Vegas. Locker also tied Webb’s outlook to the Broncos keeping the league’s highest-graded offensive line intact and adding Waddle, which could only boost his profile further.
What makes this especially nerve-wracking for Denver is the size of the list. It’s only 15 names, but head-coaching searches can end up pulling from far deeper pools than that. So seeing two Broncos assistants on the cut is enough to raise eyebrows.
At the same time, both men would likely earn their promotions the hard way. Joseph has now been in his fourth year as Denver’s defensive coordinator, and a lot of the key pieces around him have been in place for that same stretch. Webb has been with the staff since 2023, and that familiarity has clearly helped the Broncos develop real continuity on both sides of the ball.
That continuity is part of what has made this staff so effective. It’s also what makes the possibility of losing it so uncomfortable.
Payton isn’t going to block either coach from a head coaching opportunity, and he can’t. If 2026 ends up being the last season with both Joseph and Webb in Denver, the Broncos will need to make every bit of it count.
In Other News...
Broncos May Have Found A Familiar Answer At Linebacker
The Broncos have spent much of the post-Super Bowl 50 era trying to settle the linebacker spot, and Red Murdock is suddenly giving that search a familiar feel. Denvers final pick in the 2026 NFL Draft arrived with the kind of college production that gets attention, piling up tackles, plays behind the line and turnovers at Buffalo while flashing the sort of instincts that can translate even if the draft slot does not scream immediate impact.
There is also the path he is trying to follow, one Broncos fans know well from Danny Trevathan. Like Trevathan, Murdock enters camp with the long odds that come with being a late-round pickup, and he is not walking into a clear opening so much as a crowded room behind Alex Singleton, Justin Strnad, Jordan Turner and Karene Reid. Early work has been encouraging enough to make him worth watching, but the real question is whether Denver has found another developmental linebacker who can force his way into the rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Bo Nix Has One Flaw Broncos Fans Can't Ignore
Bo Nixs second year gave Denver plenty to feel good about. The Broncos went 14-3, won the AFC West and earned a first-round bye, with Nix handling the offense as the teams leader in passing attempts and completions while helping push the leagues most complete version of this roster into January. For a franchise that had spent years searching for stability at quarterback, the overall shape of the season suggested it had finally found something to build around.
The catch is that Nixs play still had a clear split, and it showed up in the kind of situations that decide postseason games. He was sharp with a clean pocket, but once pressure arrived the efficiency dropped off and turnovers became a bigger issue, leaving Denver with a familiar offseason question: how much of the offense can Nix carry when protection breaks down? That answer matters even more now, with the Broncos trying to turn a division title into a deeper playoff run. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Let A Familiar Tight End Problem Follow Them Again
The Broncos have spent enough time dealing with tight end uncertainty that it should be a familiar concern by now, and this spring did little to suggest the problem is going away. Denver brought back Adam Trautman on a three-year deal even though his blocking profile has drawn criticism, while making only modest additions to the room through free agency and the draft. The result is a depth chart that still looks built more around hope than certainty at a spot that matters plenty in Sean Paytons offense.
There were reasons Denver stayed relatively quiet, including a desire to protect future compensatory draft value, but that approach also left the team leaning on young options who need time to develop. Justin Joly and Dallen Bentley were brought in as late-round rookies, yet neither is ready to solve the kind of blocking issues that can shape what the Broncos can and cannot do on offense. For a team that wants to be sturdier and more reliable, tight end remains one of the few places where the offseason still feels unfinished. [Read more 🡒]