Denver, CO
Broncos Announce Whether Bo Nix Will Play in Preseason Finals
With Bo Nix named starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos, fans and media alike have wondered how the division of labor would shake out in preseason Game 3 vs. the Arizona Cardinals. Would Nix even play? If not, who would start and how would the snap count shake out?
Broncos head coach Sean Payton ended the suspense on Friday, revealing that Nix will not play, and that Jarrett Stidham will start the game, getting a few snaps, before giving way to Zach Wilson, who’ll play the rest of the contenst.
“You’ll see Stidham with the first series or so,” Payton said. “I’d like to see him get 8-12 plays, and then we’ll get a lot of work with Zach at some point in that first or early second quarter.”
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There are questions about which quarterback makes the most sense to serve as Nix’s backup this season. Stidham has been with Payton longer, but it would cost the Broncos $2.3 million more to keep him as the backup than it would Wilson.
Meanwhile, Wilson — the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft — has 33 NFL starts under his belt. Compared to Stidham’s four, from an experience perspective, Wilson is vastly more battle-tested.
However, Wilson is a bit more erratic. He’s a significantly more talented quarterback, but not as buttoned-down, and, thus, not as trustworthy as Stidham.
That’s why Stidham will start Game 3 and why Payton is probably leaning toward him being Denver’s QB2. But if injury were to befall Nix, Stidham could perhaps be more trusted to maintain some schematic stability, he doesn’t have the upside juice to truly thrive as an NFL starter.
Wilson busted out of New York, which means the odds that he’ll ever become a thriving NFL starter are slim. But that enormous ceiling is still there, and if there’s any NFL coach who could help Wilson come close to reaching it, it’s Payton, whose quarterback resume is long and distinguished, dating back to his time as offensive coordinator for the New York Giants in the early 2000s, which saw Kerry Collins morph into a franchise player.
The list of quarterback accomplishments on Payton’s NFL resume includes Collins, Quincy Carter, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston, and even Russell Wilson, whom Payton managed to extract a 26-touchdown season out of last year, despite it being an extremely poor fit for the venerated coach. So, if the Broncos had to turn to their QB2 this coming season, for some Football God-forsaken reason, Wilson is the one who could give Payton something to actually shoot for beyond a .500 finish at best.
‘Stiddy’ is a fail-safe, nothing more. And he costs nearly twice what Wilson would to keep rostered in 2024. However, based on the playing time plan Payton has laid out for Game 3, it would seem that Stidham is clear frontrunner for QB2.
It would take a Herculean break-out for Wilson to disabuse Payton of that notion. Stay tuned.
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The Denver Broncos have undergone a uniform overhaul, beginning in 2024. The Broncos rolled out the Mile High Collection ahead of the 2024 season, which included three different uniform combinations, plus the ’77 Throwbacks.
In 2024, Broncos fans were also treated to a Midnight Navy jersey/pants combination with the white ‘D’ helmet on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns. On top of that, the Broncos rocked their White Out look, which included the Summit White jersey/pants combination and their standard Bronco logo on a white helmet, against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day last season.
The Broncos are keeping things fresh, and it’s going to be fun to see the different jersey combinations the team rolls out each week this coming season. Fans are obviously partial to the designs, but where do the Broncos’ uniform combinations rank among their NFL peers?
Sports Illustrated‘s Mike Kadlick ranked all 32 NFL teams’ uniform combinations, with the Broncos checking in at No. 10.
“Known as the ‘Mile High’ collection, the Broncos’ new uniforms debuted ahead of the 2024 season, and they remain awesome. Jam-packed with nods to Denver and the surrounding area, their jerseys feature a sleeve cap with a mountain peak and subtle triangles along the sides to represent Colorado’s summit markers. Their helmets, meanwhile, don a bumper that reads “5280”—a reference to Denver’s elevation above sea level. Rounded out with an all-blue alternate kit and a classic throwback look that incorporates the team’s D helmet logo, the Broncos nailed their recent redesign,” Kadlick wrote.
Attention to Detail
It’s not No. 1, but at least the Broncos are in the top 10. As Kadlick noted, Denver’s attention to detail in the new uniform designs is second to none.
Kadlick had the Los Angeles Chargers ranked No. 1, which, I’ve got to admit, kind of surprised me. I’ve never been that impressed by the Chargers’ designs, but to each their own, I suppose.
The Chiefs ranked No. 11, with the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 14, for whatever it’s worth. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but Kadlick had a few questionable uniform designs ranked ahead of the Broncos, I must say.
Besides the Chargers at the top, Kadlick had the Cincinnati Bengals (No. 5), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 6), Washington Commanders (No. 8), and Miami Dolphins (No. 9) ranked above the Broncos. I’ll hear you out on the classic look of the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers (with slight modern twists), as well as the cool options the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans are rolling out nowadays, but the Chargers are meh, the Bengals and Bucs are downright ugly, and the Commanders are just plain.
No big deal, though. Posts like this make for timely offseason fodder as we await the return of football. The Broncos just finished up their offseason training program, and we’re now firmly in the NFL summer.
The cleats will hit the grass again at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit on July 28, when the veterans report for training camp. From there, the whirlwind of the 2026 season will begin in earnest.
Let’s hope the product on the field looks as good as the Broncos’ Mile High Collection uniforms. The Broncos have produced two double-digit-win seasons since the Walton-Penner ownership group rolled out the new uniform designs, so there is a precedent in place.
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The Nuggets are declining Jalen Pickett’s fourth-year team option for the 2026-27 season, releasing him from his contract, league sources told The Denver Post.
Former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth drafted Pickett with the 32nd overall pick in 2023. The 6-foot-2 reserve combo guard has struggled to break into Denver’s everyday rotation throughout his first three years in the league.
His $2.41 million salary next season would’ve offered the Nuggets a sliver of cap relief, but they chose instead to move on from the former Penn State star. Monday was the deadline to make a decision on his option.
Pickett, 26, averaged 5.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 16.1 minutes per game last season. He appeared in 50 games, highlighted by a career-high 29-point, seven-assist performance in January to lead the Nuggets in an upset over Philadelphia without their entire starting lineup.
Pickett is shooting 38.7% from the 3-point line on two attempts per game in his first three years. He also boasts a sturdy 3.63 career assist-to-turnover ratio.
But he’s remained a deep bench option under two different head coaches in Denver, from Michael Malone to David Adelman. Booth was fired in April 2025. Then, new co-general managers Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer signed veteran point guard Tyus Jones off the buyout market late last season when the Nuggets wanted ball-handling depth. Jones received playoff minutes over Pickett during their first-round series against the Timberwolves.
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