ENGLEWOOD, Colo — For all you former high school football players out there -- whether you were a guard, linebacker, running back, safety or dummy holder -- think about those competitions for the starting job as camp opened and those dreaded up-downs began.
Did you root for your buddy who was trying to take the No. 1 spot you wanted? Or did you quietly hope he failed spectacularly?
It’s funny about the NFL. Competitions may sharpen iron and all that motivational slogan stuff that gets hung on locker room walls. But they do not seem to negatively affect relationships.
“I think when you get to the NFL you all root for each other,’’ said Zach Wilson when 9NEWS sat down at the end of the Broncos’ minicamp in mid-June with each of the team’s three quarterbacks. “You want them to do well because we’re all one unit.’’
Bo Nix, the first-round rookie, and Jarrett Stidham, the veteran returning starter, join Wilson at the Broncos’ quarterback position.
“So I hope those guys do well,’’ Wilson continued. “We help each other out, we talk about things. But at the end of the day you’ve got to focus on yourself.’’
Wilson isn’t just spewing teammate speak either. He proved it his first week with the Broncos after he was traded here from the New York Jets by giving his newly assigned No. 10 to Nix, who had worn that number throughout college and high school in homage to his father and former QB Pat Nix.
But say Wilson is standing back in line, waiting his turn, and sees Stidham fire a deep ball to Marvin Mims Jr., who slips behind a flat-footed safety for a touchdown. Way to go, Jarrett! Is that really what Wilson and Nix are thinking?
“I think Davis (Webb, the Broncos’ QB coach) made a good point,’’ Wilson said. “Just because someone throws a big post for a touchdown doesn’t mean any of you all can’t do the same thing. Because maybe that play wasn’t what the call was for. Maybe my right play was to throw a checkdown. The opportunity will come for those big plays. So you’ve got to focus on yourself and not try and compare things.”
When the Broncos’ full roster of 90 players gathers Tuesday for training camp, they will have a quarterback competition unique from the usual pass-offs. In one sense, it’s Nix-Stidham-Wilson vying for No. 1.
In another sense, it’s Nix vs. Nix.
Whenever head coach Sean Payton deems Nix ready, he’ll start. Stidham may have looked the best during the offseason practices. And if all goes well for him during training camp and the three-game preseason, he may be the starter in the early part of the regular season.
But Nix is Payton’s hand-picked quarterback. Which is especially significant after the way Payton banished his inherited quarterback from last year’s team, Russell Wilson.
Still, Payton wants Nix to earn it. There’s the other players to think about. They want to believe in Nix and trust him, too. Payton has talked glowingly of Nix so far but he hasn’t given him the starting job, yet.
“Fortunately for me I’ve had competition each year in college,’’ Nix said in his 9NEWS interview in mid-June. “It’s nothing new. Everything I’ve always done has always been a competition so it’s just whatever I can do to get myself better and be as good as I can be.”
The Broncos' first game for keeps is Sept. 8 at Seattle following by a week 2 home matchup against Russell Wilson and his new team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
During the OTAs, Payton set it up so each of his three quarterbacks rotated with the No. 1 offense – Stidham on Tuesdays, Wilson on Wednesdays, Nix on Thursdays.
We’ll see how Payton lines it up in training camp but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t contract the competition a bit by the second week. Whether he's the starter or No. 2, Nix needs reps. Stidham and Wilson are veterans accustomed to the speed of NFL play.
Nix may have been a five-year college starter, but he nevertheless has zero NFL experience.
“It’s not necessarily the speed of the game,’’ Nix said. “I think everybody is just more knowledgeable about the game. Everybody is smarter. Everybody gets to the ball faster.”
Stidham was a fourth-round draft pick of the then mighty New England Patriots in 2019. The plan was to one day replace Tom Brady but going on six seasons later, Stidham has just four NFL starts – two with the Raiders to finish up the 2022 season and two with the Broncos in place of the benched Russell Wilson to wrap up 2023.
Still, that's one season and two starts in Payton's offensive system more than Nix and Zach Wilson.
“This is actually the first time I’m the vet in the room,’’ Stidham said. “So it’s fun.”
The difference between this season and the previous ones is Stidham has his best chance to start game 1. He wasn’t going to beat out Brady in 2019. He wasn’t ready to nudge out Cam Newton in 2020, or Derek Carr with the Raiders or Russell Wilson last year.
And even if he’s an underdog to Nix this year, it’s still Stidham’s best chance.
“I think competition is amazing for this entire sport,’’ Stidham said. “That’s how it should be. Every room should be as competitive as possible. If we’re not bringing in guys that are competitive each and every year than what are we doing?
“That’s how I’ve always been wired. I came in under older guys but that didn’t mean I was not going to continue to compete with those guys and push those guys. Same thing with these younger guys. I’ve always had the mindset of, it doesn’t matter who I’m going against or who I’m competing against I’m going to try and do the best I can do and move the ball efficiently and everything else.”
>>Video below: Bo Nix joins Broncos: Here are his first remarks in Denver