The Denver Broncos have conducted a spirited quarterback competition this summer, and initially you could have flipped a three-headed coin to guess the winner. Bo Nix started the summer as a perceived also-ran among the QBs drafted in the first round, and both Zach Wilson and Jarrett Stidham have serious warts as potential starters.
But Broncos coach Sean Payton surprised everyone by making a very decisive choice, selecting Nix as his opening starter. It makes sense given what we've seen Nix do in the preseason, although we still have no idea how he'll hold up against real starters and regular-season schemes. Wilson and Stidham have reacted to the selection in very different ways, though, and that's where the QB picture gets muddier.
Jarrett Stidham clearly thinks he should be the starter
Most quarterbacks tend to issue vanilla statements when they lose a competition for the starting job, especially when they haven't shown enough in their performance to make the choice clear.
But Stidham chose a very different approach to the results, saying he was "very disappointed." After that he dug a bit of a hole for himself, saying "I know I'm a starting quarterback in this league."
We won't know how Payton feels about this comment given that he chose a raw rookie over Stidham, but we will get a clue during the upcoming roster cutdowns. The Denver coach has a decision to make about whether he's going to keep three quarterbacks or two, and Stidham has put himself out on a limb given that he represents $4 million in salary cap savings if he is cut.
Stidham's numbers certainly didn't do anything to indicate that he should beat out Nix for the job. He threw two picks without posting a single touchdown pass, and his yardage numbers weren't particularly impressive, either.
Zach Wilson chooses a very different path
It's more than a little jarring to hear Zach Wilson sound like the guy in the quarterback room who gets it after his uniquely negative experience with the Jets, but he really did take the high ground and then some with his comments.
This was based in part that he'd been told he made the roster, but Wilson spent most of his time in New York acting clueless about what the right thing was to say, when to say it, and how to say it in a diplomatic, neutral way.
"I really believe that they're putting him in a good situation," Wilson said, and he went on to praise Payton, quarterback coach Davis Webb and several other assistants. "I'm excited to see what he can do, and I think he's ready for it."
Wilson will be there to see it, which was has been very much up in the air at various points in training camp. He's still very inconsistent, despite the excellent stat line he submitted in Denver's final preseason game against Arizona, which ended up at 16 for 25 for 251 yards and 2 TDs.
The eye test tells a somewhat different story, though. Wilson will literally look like a solid NFL starter on one play, then a foolish risk-taker who makes bad decisions on the next.
Now it's all about the future for him, and he'll get a year to sit and learn under Webb and Payton, although the downside is he won't get the NFL reps he still needs in a real offense.
Many believe that quiet year is the key to his future success, and fortunately for Wilson that also includes Denver coach Sean Payton, who is willing to pay the former Jets bust $2.7 million this year to test his belief going forward.