FEBRUARY 26: Confirming that his playing days are officially over, Banjo tweeted on Sunday that he has retired. He acknowledged that his next NFL chapter is already well known, as was announced when the Broncos unveiled their full coaching staff. Banjo’s 33rd birthday will mark the turning point of his transition to the sidelines, where he will look to help a Denver special teams unit which ranked 29th in the league in DVOA last season.
FEBRUARY 23: On a day in which the Broncos have already made multiple noteworthy hires, the team has added a few more intriguing names to its staff. Denver is hiring a pair of NFLers who played in the 2022 season, allowing them to begin their respective coaching careers. 
The Broncos are hiring Davis Webb as quarterbacks coach, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). The move represents a significant jump directly from the playing to coaching ranks, but not an unsurprising one, considering the 28-year-old’s stated intention of moving his career to the sidelines.
Webb nearly signed with the Bills as their QBs coach last offseason, one in which offensive coordinator Brian Daboll took the head coaching job with the Giants. Buffalo hired Joe Brady as their coach at that position, leaving Webb to follow Daboll to New York. He spent the 2022 season as a backup to Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor, getting one start in the season finale.
Webb has made it very clear he intended to immediately transition to coaching once his playing days ended. This posting will allow him to do that, while teaming with head coach Sean Payton and an intriguing signal-caller in Russell Wilson. The nine-time Pro Bowler struggled immensely in his first Broncos season, so his ability to rebound in 2023 will largely depend on Webb’s and Payton’s success coaching him.
In addition, the Broncos are giving veteran special teamer Chris Banjo a first look in the coaching ranks. The safety was released by the Cardinals earlier today, marking an end to his playing career but allowing him to once again work a few familiar faces. The 32-year-old is becoming an assistant special teams coach, Mike Klis of 9News tweets.
Banjo played in the NFL for 10 seasons, including time spent under Payton in New Orleans from 2016-18. The former UDFA most recently spent the past four seasons with the Cardinals, playing under new Broncos DC Vance Joseph. Overall, he carved out a role for himself as a core special teamer, racking up 143 tackles over 131 total games played. Now, he too will make an immediate jump from playing to coaching as he begins the next chapter of his football career.
In other coaching news out of the Mile High City, Denver has hired Greg Manusky as their new inside linebackers coach, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The 56-year-old was recently let go by the Vikings, but has landed in his next NFL home quite quickly. Manusky has 12 years of defensive coordinator experience across four teams, but this will be his first posting in Denver. He, along with Webb and Banjo, will look to help guide the Broncos to a resurgent season in 2023 as members of Payton’s first staff.
Turning Russell Wilson around means hiring a 28 year old first timer as his position coach? Huh?
Kind of like the Cardinals hiring a 8th grade defensive coach with a $230 million dollar QB.
He ran top five defenses the last two years while in middle school? Impressive!
I’m of the opinion that if a player has been in the league for more than three years and still doesn’t know the drill or what he has to do to improve, then coaching is wasted on him.
Was hoping the Niners would sign Webb to be QB3. Anyways, heck of a career at Cal!
People are acting like this is ridiculous when McVay was between the ages that Webb and Banjo are now when he became head coach of the Rams. The Broncos will have plenty of veteran coaches to go with these rookies.
That’s a very good point, but McVay also had a few solid years of coaching experience even for his young age.
McVay was part of that super staff they had in Washington with himself, Kyle Shannahan, Matt LaFleur, Mike McDaniel, Bob and Bobby Slowik, Jim Haslett, Raheem Morris, Bobby Turner, Aubrey Pleasant, Chris Foerster, and of course Mike Shannahan…
The younger Slowik, who is now the 49ers OC, will likely be the next new head coach from that bunch, but good lord almighty what a staff, especially what an offensive staff!!!
It’s no wonder they had RG3 looking like a future HOF QB his first year…lol
They had FOUR of the top offensive head coaches in today’s NFL, one of the best RB coaches, 2 former defensive head coaches, one of the game’s most respected DB coaches, one of today’s up and coming OCs, and one of the league’s most well respected OL coaches, PLUS a coaching legend overseeing it all…
The 2013 Washington Redskins had to have had the most talented coaching staff ever assembled, yet they SOMEHOW let them ALL go elsewhere each helping to shape today’s NFL and positively impacting the Rams, 49ers, Packers, and Dolphins, an eighth of the entire league, and repetitive NFC representatives out of their own conference.
It just goes to show you what an incompetent owner can truly accomplish..!!
I feel bad for Eric Bienemy, but hopefully he’s able to come and go unscathed.
Why feel bad for Bienemy? He’ll likely be a HC soon.
Also, that incompetent owner is likely to sell the team soon. Who knows what kind of owner Jeff Bezos, assuming he gets it, might be? One thing’s for sure, though. Money won’t be a problem outside of cap issues.
New way to fast track a coaching career in the NFL is to be a half@$$ed QB and shut the playing career down early.
How many HOF players can you name that went on to be great coaches?
It’s like the old saying, “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach.”
Very true, at least with QBs. Off the top of my head, I can think of three backups to Hall of Fame QBs that have had good runs, at least in duration, as coaches in the NFL – Jason Garrett, Gary Kubiak, and Frank Reich.
I just thought of a fourth – Doug Pederson.
One day, Davis Webb could join that list if he goes on to have a successful coaching career and Eli Manning gets inducted into the HOF.
Even in his playing days, Webb was thought of as such in the Giants’ organization, amongst others. I actually was disappointed to have never really gotten to see him in significant ingame action, given his career at Cal, but he’s always apparently had a knack for the mental aspects of the game.
I don’t exactly expect a Kellan Moore style immediate transition, but the precedent for “decorated college passer-short career as a backup-young offensive wunderkin” has already been set, and Webb has that avenue if he impresses.
Good luck Davis! Although he barely saw the field for the Giants last season, he was an asset to Jones and the coaching staff in the QB room.
Will miss hearing the Chris BANJO Playing.