For the first time since 1983 with John Elway, the Denver Broncos will open up the regular season with a rookie starting quarterback. Bo Nix, the 2024 first-round pick, has been the story of the offseason and summer and will rightly be the focus as the Broncos travel to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
But there's still the unsettled issue of who Nix's backup will be. The Broncos surprised many by keeping three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster — Nix, Jarrett Stidham, and Zach Wilson.
Stidham still seems like the obvious prediction to be Denver's QB2 behind Nix, but even with the season-opener in Seattle being just six days away, head coach Sean Payton has yet to confirm it.
“I’ll settle it and keep you guys posted," Payton said on Monday when asked about who Denver's backup quarterback will be.
It's Game Week, albeit Day 1, and Payton wouldn't just come out and say who his backup QB is. It's conspicuous, but that doesn't mean that it'll be Wilson.
In all honesty, Wilson makes more sense to be Nix's backup, and for multiple reasons — not the least of which is his overwhelmingly positive and supportive attitude about his rookie counterpart. Wilson gushed about Nix in his first public remarks after the rookie was named starter.
“I was excited for him. I don’t think it was a surprise too much, obviously," Wilson said back on August 25 following the Broncos' preseason finale. "I think he’s had a great camp. I told him I’m excited for him for this opportunity. I really believe that they’re putting him in a good situation. I think Sean [Payton] has done a phenomenal job... And then Bo just continued to keep getting better. So I’m excited to see what he can do, and I think he’s ready for it.”
Compared to Stidham's rather dour and self-oriented comments about being vanquished by Nix, Wilson has clearly taken a more supportive posture relative to his rookie teammate.
“First of all, obviously, I was very disappointed," Stidham said on August 25. "I know I’m a starting quarterback in this league. I have no doubts about that, and it just didn’t shake out my way. I know what kind of player I am, what kind of person I am.”
Let's not forget that, as a former No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, Wilson is technically Denver's most experienced pro quarterback, with 33 career starts. Stidham, meanwhile, has all of four NFL starts since entering the league in 2019.
So perhaps Payton's QB2 decision is not as "obvious" as I wrote above. Stidham seemed to take losing to Nix in the open competition this past summer a lot harder than Wilson did, and that could create a little bit of an awkward vibe.
Tapping Wilson to be the backup could help insulate Nix from those Stidham vibrations. But Nix, despite being an NFL rookie, isn't exactly the traditional green-behind-the-ears first-year quarterback.
After all, Nix is 24 years old, he's married, and he just so happens to be the most experienced college quarterback to ever be drafted into the NFL. His 61 college starts — spanning the SEC and now-defunct PAC-12 — are an NCAA record.
That experience and maturity are part of what made him such an attractive prospect to Payton and the Broncos. If things are a little sensitive around Stidham, Payton probably doesn't have to worry too much about Nix's feelings or reactions to it.
The Broncos haven't released an official depth chart yet, but they will before the Week 1 tilt at Seattle. It might just be that Payton isn't going to offer up any depth-chart revelations to the press until he's mandated to by the NFL. Or there could be some there there, if you know what I mean.
Payton's primary focus, like all of Broncos Country, is getting Nix ready to rock and roll in front of a rowdy, hostile crowd at Lumen Field. Nix has some unfinished business in that stadium, having come up short last season in the PAC-12 title game as Oregon fell to Washington at Lumen Field.
“It’s going to be loud," Payton said of the Seattle opener. "I would imagine there will be some similarities to when Oregon goes to Washington and they’re playing in front of however many thousand people. That’s another loud stadium an hour down the road. So we’ll deal with the crowd noise this week. This won’t be the first game we play where it’s loud.”
Loud stadiums aren't exactly a pro novelty, but Seattle has traditionally been one of the NFL's loudest stadiums, so Payton and Nix will be ready for it. And which quarterback will be holding the clipboard as the No. 2 is an answer we'll simply have to wait a little while longer to get.
