DENVER — Russell Wilson was gone, free agency got past Day 1, when all the action happens, and no quarterback.
Sam Darnold signed with the Vikings, not the Broncos, leaving Jarrett Stidham as Denver’s starting quarterback.
Sam Howell trade talks concluded on the fourth day of free agency, March 14, but the former Washington quarterback wound up with the Seattle Seahawks, not the Broncos.
Denver tried to sign Darnold, acquire Howell, but with Stidham in the bank, the team wouldn’t overpay.
Stidham was still the Broncos’ starting quarterback. Stidham remained the one and only through March, through the first two weeks of April and the first week of Phase I of the Broncos’ offseason program.
And then, wham.
In a four-day span the Broncos acquired Zach Wilson – the No. 2 overall draft selection three years earlier – from the New York Jets, and selected Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall selection in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Talk about a reminder of life in the NFL.
“Well, look, I’ve been in this business long enough,’’ Stidham said Wednesday evening at a Home Run Derby for charity event at Coors Field. “I get it. The thing is, competition is good. It brings out the best in people, I truly believe that. All I can control is hard I work, how prepared I am.”
Say this for Stidham: He hasn’t moped about becoming crowded with hotshot newcomers. He bowed his neck and competed. To almost all media observers, Stidham was the best of the three quarterbacks, with Nix also mostly promising, during the offseason practice sessions.
Not that Stidham is aware of these media observations.
“I don’t have Twitter,’’ Stidham said. “I got rid of it. It was early in my Auburn career (2017-18). I found out very quickly this is probably not a place I need to be looking at things.”
Some say it’s no big deal that Stidham has been the Broncos’ apparent No. 1. He should have been, as this is his second year in coach Sean Payton’s offense, putting him at an early advantage over Nix and Wilson. And if, say, Nix and Wilson looked better than Stidham?
When it comes to satisfying the masses, it’s always something.
Truth is, Stidham is the incumbent starter. He was 1-1 in the Broncos’ final two games last season, throwing for nearly 500 combined yards with two touchdowns and an interception. That doesn’t mean Stidham will start Game 1 at Seattle on Sept. 8. It just means he remained the top performing QB through the Broncos’ offseason – again, by most media views, not necessarily from Payton, the only view that counts – which concluded Wednesday.
“It’s been fun,’’ Stidham said. “It’s been good. Second year in the system and not having to think as much – it’s more just react. I know what I’m doing, I know what I’m supposed to be doing and play football fast.
“Execute. It’s definitely the improvement I wanted to see going into the spring and thought it was good," he said. "Obviously some things to learn from, but it was fun.”
Stidham and the other two quarterbacks will convene with several other skill position players between the week after the Fourth of July holiday and before reporting for training camp around July 22 for extra-credit work.
Is this a better collection of skill-position players than last year’s Broncos?
“I really like our group of guys,’’ Stidham said. “It was good to see Court back this week. I think we’ve got a solid group. A really close group, too.”
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