Training camp week is here. The Denver Broncos kick things off on Friday, July 26 — and unless something has changed internally, the plan is still to hold an open competition for the starting quarterback job.

Broncos insider Woody Paige of the Denver Gazette is pounding the table for Sean Payton to dispense with the ‘competition’ farce, and anoint rookie first-round Bo Nix as the starter from “the jump.”

“The Broncos must stop playing games before beginning to play games.

“Jarrett Stidham didn’t participate in trips with the Patriots and the Raiders to the Great Northwest, and Zach Wilson was inactive for the Jets game there,” Paige wrote.

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Indeed, the Broncos know that Nix is the future. Payton is orchestrating this rebuild the old-fashioned way — with his handpicked first-rounder in tow.

And what credible NFL analyst believes Stidham is suddenly going to morph from the toad that he’s been since entering the league into a quarterback prince? To boot, the Broncos are still focused on rebuilding Zach Wilson’s confidence, so how can Payton plausibly expect the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft to pull a 180 and lead this team to the promised land?

Paige goes on.

“Nix can fix the Broncos. Stidham and Wilson can’t.

“Why wait?

“Sean Payton already knows who he wants to start. It’s mind over matter. His mind is saying ‘Nix,’’ and the other two QBs don’t matter. The coach split the plays three ways in the off-season minicamps, but declined to reveal his plan for the full training camp, which starts in earnest in Dove Valley this week,” Paige wrote.

Any, and I mean any, first-team reps that Payton gives Stidham or Wilson deprive Nix of the precious opportunities to assimilate the offense, build chemistry with his receivers, and bond with the offensive line. I get it; Payton wants to maintain credibility in the locker room that the Broncos’ roster is a meritocracy.

But these players want to win sooner rather than later. Platitudes aside, the vets know what Stidham and Wilson are. The Broncos’ veterans know that the earlier Nix gets inserted as the starter, the sooner the team can get through his trial-and-error learning curve and get back to winning games.

“Both Wilsons and Stidham are problems. BoNix should be nicknamed ‘The Solution.’

“Start him from the very start,” Paige concludes.

Amen. The only way out is through for Payton and the Broncos. And by through, I mean Nix’s learning curve. Get through it, and everything becomes possible for a franchise that has listed shockingly for the past eight seasons.

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