Jarrett Stidham and Bo Nix: Denver Broncos’ ‘orphan dogs’

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.

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