Ex-Cal QB Davis Webb Passed Up Coaching Offer to Keep Playing in NFL

Bills wanted to make him their quarterbacks coach, but he signed with Giants instead

Here is a measure of the quarterbacking intelligence of former Cal quarterback Davis Webb:

He has been on the field for two regular-season plays in his NFL career, both resulting in kneel-downs. Yet the Buffalo Bills wanted him to be their quarterbacks coach for the coming season, as noted in a March story by The Athletic, which included this excerpt:

[Josh] Allen’s comfort and continuity inside the quarterbacks meeting room became so important that, on top of essentially letting him handpick first-time play caller Ken Dorsey to replace [Brian] Daboll, the Bills asked third-string quarterback Davis Webb to consider retiring and becoming their new quarterbacks coach.

The Bills didn’t formally offer Webb the job, but sources confirmed a mutual understanding the job was his if he wanted it.

A coaching career awaits Webb whenever he decides to stop playing, and there was no chance the Bills could pay the 27-year-old what he still can make as an active quarterback. He joined the Giants on a one-year contract worth $1.035 million.

Somebody thinks he knows his stuff. But instead of taking the Bills' implied offer, he wanted to keep playing, and he signed with the New York Giants as a free agent.  He won't be starter with the Giants either, providing a mentor role for Daniel Jones.

But Webb is just 27 years old -- young enough to still make an impact as an NFL quarterback..

Webb is just one year older than Aaron Rodgers was when Rodgers completed his first season as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Warren Moon was 28 when he made his first NFL start.

Patrick Mahomes will turn 27 in September, and Josh Allen is just a year younger than Webb, who nearly became Allen's quarterback coach.

Kurt Warner was 28 before he became a starter in the NFL, only getting his chance when first-string quarterback Trent Green suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 1999 preseason.

So what if the Giants' Jones gets hurt. Will that enable Webb to finally get his shot as a starter? Probably not.

The third quarterback on the Giants' roster is Tyrod Taylor, who has made 53 NFL starts, including six last season with Texas.  Taylor will be 33 when the 2022 season begins, but he presumably will be the Giants' quarterback if something happens to Jones.

So for now Webb's assignment is to be Jones' mentor -- a sort of player-coach, who has had close association with quarterback greatness. Webb was a teammate of Mahomes and Baker Mayfield at Texas Tech before Webb transferred to Cal for the 2016 season. Webb was the Red Raiders' starter ahead of Mahomes in 2014 before Webb suffered a season-ending injury in the eighth game. Webb was also a backup to Eli Manning in his first sting with the Giants, and he spent the past two seasons with Allen and the Bills.

(Webb nearly got a shot as a starter with the Giants several years ago before an odd series of events prevented it, as noted in the video atop the story.)

So when Webb sees big things ahead for Jones, he knows what greatness looks like.

"He’s the hardest-working quarterback I’ve been around,’’ Webb told the New York Post earlier this month. "He’s probably the smartest quarterback I’ve been around.’’ 

And he's been around some great ones.

“He has really good questions in meetings, takes really good notes, he’s always looking to improve, weight room, practice field, meeting room, he’s just all in, and it’s fun to have a teammate like that,’’ Webb said in the Post article. “Cares that much and brings the most out of his teammates. He’s a dang good football player. I think he’s gonna have his best year.

“He’s pretty smart for 25, a lot smarter than I was two years ago.’’

Webb's goal is to make the Giants 53-man roster, which will only be possible if Daboll opts to keep three quarterbacks. Webb could wind up on the Giants' practice squad again, which a situation he has become used to. He has spent most of his career on the practice squads of various team since being a third-round pick in 2017.

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Cover photo of Davis Webb by Rich Barnes, USA TODAY Sports

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