Being a backup quarterback in the NFL is the closest thing you can get to on the job training to be a coach while being a player, because, barring an injury that forces you into action, you spend most of your time helping the starter and learning the ins and outs of the playbook.
Davis Webb, who was a third round pick of the Giants in 2017, has spent the past five years playing for all three teams that claim New York as home — the Giants, Jets, Bills, and, again, the Giants — playing in just two games over that span, a start this past year in which he went 23-of-40 for 168 yards and a touchdown. Apparently, that time holding the clipboard over five years was enough to catch the eye of Sean Payton, who has brought Webb in to Denver, not as a player, but as the quarterback coach for the Broncos under new offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.
That means the 28-year-old Webb will be coaching Russell Wilson, who is six years his senior.
NFL veteran QB Davis Webb, who spent last season backing up Daniel Jones, is being hired as the Broncos’ QB coach, per sources. The 28-year-old Webb now will be coaching the 34-year-old Russell Wilson in his first NFL coaching job.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 23, 2023
It’s not often that you get players being coached by someone younger than them, but this seems like it’ll be a fascinating dynamic, particularly given how apparently set in his ways Russell Wilson is. If the Broncos want to ask Wilson, who struggled mightily last year, to change some things, bringing in someone younger who has never coached the position before to do so is certainly an interesting choice.