The Raiders have begun the process of searching for their next head coach, and the consensus seems to be that Tom Brady and company are going to settle on a young offensive-minded coach from this year’s pool of candidates.
Kevin Stefanski and Klint Kubiak would fit that description, but one of the most interesting names linked to the Raiders in the last week is Davis Webb, whose official title in Denver is ‘Pass Game Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach.’
Webb turns 31 at the end of January, and is one of the league’s most respected young coaches. He might not be ready to run a team, but league insider Ari Meirov said this week that someone might have to hire Davis a year before he is ready.
“It might be one year away, but [Webb] is somebody who is viewed in league circles as somebody who’s going to become a future head coach. I had him on my list before the season as somebody who could definitely do it. I’m not surprised the league is looking at him like this right now,” Meirov told Raider Nation Radio’s Q Myers this week.
“There’s no Ben Johnson, there’s no Mike Vrabel, there’s no Liam Coen in the cycle. This might be the year to get somebody who might be one year away. And Davis will definitely fall in that category.”
Prior to the season, Meirov listed Webb as his top head coaching candidate in the NFL under 40 years of age and said he blew away Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton in his initial interview.
“He’s on a rocket ship,” Meirov said about Davis in September.
“I’ll say it right now, when he becomes a head coach, I hope you guys heard it from me first, but his rise is remarkable. He transitioned from that backup role and the way he ended up in Denver is the story I love the most. When Sean got hired in Denver… he was running to fill out his staff and he was looking for a quarterbacks coach and he was just going through the process and he was like, ‘You know what, I’ll interview a bunch of guys, but I’ll probably hire one of these guys that I know from New Orleans.'”
“He interviews Davis Webb as part of the process and Davis Webb blows him away,” Meirov continued. “It was the most impressive interview that he did throughout the entire process, regardless of what position it was, and he hired Davis Webb on the spot. Ever since then, Davis Webb has had a vital role in Denver. Of course, we saw what Bo Nix did last year. He’s a very, very big part of that, of course, being the quarterbacks coach.”
“There were a number of teams who were trying to hire Davis Webb this offseason. He got a promotion to also becoming the passing game coordinator in his title, but this is somebody who in the preseason, the first preseason game versus Arizona, Sean Payton gave him play calling responsibilities. He was awesome at it.”
Aside from his potential, the other advantage to hiring Webb is that it would take an assistant coach away from the Broncos.
The Broncos won 14 games this season and look to be the team to beat in the AFC West for the foreseeable future.
Webb should have plenty of insights on how to play the Broncos in 2026 and it might be nice to see Bo Nix move forward in his career with a new quarterbacks coach.
On that note, does Payton have any family members he might think about hiring to coach his quarterback room or even his offensive line next year?
x: @raidersbeat