The Denver Broncos traded five draft choices, including two first-rounders, and three players to obtain nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson in 2022.

Two years later, Wilson is practicing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Broncos are working through three quarterbacks to find their 2024 starter – Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson.

“It’s kind of the orphan group,” Denver coach Sean Payton said on Thursday. “They’re all orphan dogs. They come from somewhere. But they’re doing good. And it’s a good room.”

In order of acquisition, Stidham signed with the Broncos last offseason as an unrestricted free agent, Wilson came aboard in a trade with the New York Jets on April 22 and Nix joined as the 12th pick in the NFL Draft on April 25.

“They come from different systems,” Payton said. “One’s coming from college, one’s coming from two or three NFL systems and the other’s coming from one system. They’re all in a race to learn this system. And I would say — you guys watched the practice — man, they’re doing well.”

A two-year starter at Auburn, Stidham is preparing for his sixth NFL season. His four starts came under similar circumstances. Stidham started the final two games of the 2022 season for Las Vegas as the Raiders prepared for their offseason release of No. 1 quarterback Derek Carr. He did the same thing for Denver in 2023. In his four starts, Stidham has passed for 1,080 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions.

After signing Russell Wilson to a five-year, $245 million contract, Denver had a 13-21 record in the past two seasons. The Broncos released the quarterback even though they still must pay him $39 million in 2024. But the release prevented Denver from also owing Wilson $37 million for 2025.

Zack Wilson started 33 games for the Jets after being the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was supposed to be replaced by Aaron Rodgers last season. But when the four-time NFL MVP sustained a season-ending injury in the opening game, Wilson ended up starting 11 times in 2023.

New York posted a 12-21 record in Wilson’s starts, and he has 23 touchdown passes and 25 interceptions during his career.

Alabama’s Mr. Football for the 2018 season at Pinson Valley High School, Nix started for three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Oregon. Nix finished third in the voting for the 2023 Heisman Trophy as he set an NCAA FBS single-season record by completing 77.45 percent of his passes and school single-season marks with 4,508 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes for Oregon.

TOM BRADY’S ADVICE FOR BO NIX

With 16,965 yards of total offense in his career, Nix ranks second in NCAA FBS history. He also ranks second with 152 total touchdowns (113 passing, 38 rushing and one receiving), sixth with 15,352 passing yards and seventh with 1,286 completions.

“We go by what we see,” Payton said of the quarterback competition. “We try to get them as many reps as possible. We’re rotating all of them right now, so Tuesday Stiddy ran with the ones and then Zach and then Bo, and we’ll keep doing that right now.”

Denver held its first three days of its Phase 3 practices last week. Commonly called OTAs (for Organized Team Activities), Phase 3 practices allow NFL teams to expand their offseason on-the-field work to include 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills matching the offense and defense. Contact is still not allowed, but group drills can proceed at more than a walkthrough pace now.

Stidham took the first-team snaps on Tuesday, Wilson did so on Wednesday and Nix got his turn with the first team on Thursday.

Payton said not to draw a conclusion from that order.

“There’s going to be a time when you read into the reps,” Payton said. “I don’t think it’s early in OTAs.”

The Broncos have seven OTA practices remaining on their offseason schedule as well as a three-day mandatory minicamp June 11-13 before breaking for the summer.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

The Rockies have turned heartbreak into an art form.

For the umpteenth time this season, a late-inning rally against their undependable bullpen cost the Rockies a victory on Saturday night.

The Phillies won 8-4, scoring six runs in the ninth off relievers Jalen Beeks, Justin Lawrence and John Curtiss. The Coors Field crowd of 37,535 fans, many clad in Philly red, held a party.

“It’s frustration right now,” said Lawrence, who blew his third save and is carrying a 5.91 ERA. “It feels like a couple of times now that we have spoiled some really, really good starts by our guys. They have had some incredible stretches lately.

“I’ve been real big on trying to make those relief innings just kind of boring. Got out there and execute. But the (Phillies) are a good team and they have some really good hitters. YOu have to be able to execute against one of the best teams in the league, and I didn’t do that to the best of my ability tonight.”

Colorado’s loss was compounded by the loss of rookie outfielder Jordan Beck, who broke his hand while making a diving catch in the first inning.

In the ninth inning, Beeks committed a cardinal sin by walking leadoff hitter Brandon Marsh. Enter Lawrence, who promptly gave up an opposite-field RBI triple to right by Edmundo Sosa, tying the game, 3-3. Garrett Stubbs’ single through the right side scored Sosa for the go-ahead run.

Regarding Sosa’s triple, Lawrence said: “I threw that pitch with conviction, and it was one pitch that I executed. We wanted to go fastball in there, and he turned it inside out the other way. He’s hitting (.333) for a reason. He’s a great hitter.”

It got worse for the Rockies’ ‘pen. Much worse.

Curtiss relieved Lawrence and gave up a three-run homer to Bryce Harper, who sliced his 13th homer of the season just inside the left-field foul pole. The Phillies fans of LoDo serenaded Harper with chants of “MVP! MVP!”

A double by Alec Bohm and an RBI single by Nick Castellanos put a bow on Philly’s comeback.

Colorado scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on Charlie Blackmon’s RBI double, his 600th career extra-base hit, breaking a tie with Larry Walker for the second-most in franchise history behind Todd Helton (998).

“There is frustration when you lose a game, depending on how you lose it,” manager Bud Black said. “Whether it’s starting pitching, whether it’s lack of offense, whether it’s not hitting in the clutch, whether it’s poor defense … Right now, the bullpen has been very variable. So it is frustrating.”

The painful part for the Rockies, who are now 17-34 and on pace to lose 108 games, is that they are wasting excellent starting pitching.

Behind a solid start from Dakota Hudson, the Rockies looked primed to beat the powerful Phillies for the second night in a row.

Hudson, who’s been the weak link in the rotation chain, pitched a fine game. He held the Phillies to two runs on five hits over six innings. The right-hander has been walk-prone, but he issued just one free pass and fanned two.

“I was mixing a little bit over everything,” Hudson said. “I could have been a little bit better with my glove-side heater, but I felt really good about the changeup.”

Over the last five games, the Rockies have five quality starts and a sparkling 1.93 ERA. Since May 1 (22 games), they have a 3.80 ERA with 12 quality starts. All of that after an April in which Colorado starters posted a 5.81 ERA with just seven quality starts.

“I have always believed that starting pitching is the backbone of a team’s success,” Black said. “We have had a nice run of starts. I’m proud of the guys. In a lot of ways, they are very unheralded … but I’m proud of them and they way they are throwing the ball.”

Hudson’s night started out a bit rough. Kyle Schwarber led off with a solid single up the middle and scored on Harper’s line-drive single to right.

But Hudson regrouped and held Philly scoreless until the fifth. Stubbs led off with a single, advanced to second on Johan Rojas’ groundout, and then took third on a delayed steal when he caught the Rockies napping. Stubbs scored on Kyle Schwarber’s sacrifice fly to center, cutting Colorado’s lead to 3-2.

The Rockies manufactured single runs in the first, second and third innings against Phillies starter Aaron Nola. Until the ninth inning, it was all the offense the Rockies needed.

Back-to-back, two-out walks by Ryan McMahon and Kris Bryant set the table for Brendan Rodgers’ RBI single in the first. In the second, Brenton Doyle led off with an infield single, stole second, and took third on Jacob Stallings’ single. Doyle scored on Hunter Goodman’s groundout to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

Ezequiel Tovar converted his leadoff single into a 3-1 lead in the third. Marsh’s error allowed Tovar to scoot to second, and Tovar took third on Ryan McMahon’s groundout. Tovar scored on Bryant’s hard groundout that caromed off Nola.

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