The Broncos may not be able to keep both of their top coordinators in Denver for long.
After a 2025 season that ended with a disappointing loss in the AFC Championship Game, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is once again being talked about as a future head coach. Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report included Joseph among eight coordinators he believes could land a head coaching job after this season, and the case is easy to see.
Joseph has built one of the league’s best defenses, and that unit has been a major reason the Broncos are back in the conversation. What makes his omission from the last hiring cycle stand out is that he still wasn’t hired despite the league having as many as 10 openings, even after interviewing for several of them.
Sean Payton made it clear he was caught off guard by that outcome. “I am a little surprised, with the season we had as well as how well we played defensively and 10 openings,” Payton told reporters during the scouting combine in February.
Joseph’s path makes the interest even more understandable. He was the Broncos’ head coach in 2017 and 2018, a two-year run that didn’t go well, but he has spent the seven years since rebuilding his reputation as a respected defensive mind.
Now entering his fourth season as Denver’s defensive coordinator under Payton, he’s coming off a strong year. The Broncos finished second overall and third in points allowed, then reached the AFC title game without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who was sidelined by a broken ankle.
Knox pointed to that exact mix of results and opportunity when making the case for Joseph. “It's fair to wonder if Denver would have reached Super Bowl LX with a healthy Nix behind center. If the Broncos are able to come close to reaching Super Bowl LXI with another top-five defense, it's hard to imagine Joseph not getting another shot at being a head coach”, wrote Knox.
That kind of résumé tends to travel fast around the league. ESPN’s Dan Graziano had Joseph No. 1 on a list of potential head coaching candidates in December 2025, and six of the other nine names on that list were eventually hired.
Joseph may not be the only Broncos assistant drawing outside attention. New offensive coordinator Davis Webb is also viewed as a possible target for teams looking to fill head coaching jobs. Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus believes that possibility is very real.
“Webb’s name has continued to populate around head-coaching openings in recent years. This coming offseason is when it could finally come to fruition.
The former quarterback has worked as Sean Payton’s right-hand man over the last three seasons, absorbing knowledge from one of the sport’s most respected visionaries. While Denver’s offense has been fairly mediocre in that span - placing 19 th in EPA per play and 20 th in success rate - Webb has been instrumental in developing Bo Nix, who’s produced two 77.1-plus-graded campaigns. He also occupied the same room as Josh Allen in Buffalo as his backup from 2019-21.
This offseason, Webb received the play-calling reins from Payton in an effort to lure him back to Denver - and away from division rival Las Vegas. With the Broncos keeping the league’s highest-graded offensive line intact and adding Waddle, the 31-year-old may see his star grow further”, wrote Locker.
For Denver, the upside is obvious. The downside is baked in, too: the better the Broncos are in 2026, the more likely other teams will come calling for the coaches behind the turnaround.
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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
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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 🡒]