The Denver Broncos concluded their offseason program last week without naming a winner, or even a frontrunner, in their quarterback competition.
“I don’t have a date,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said about naming the starter. “I have a gut.”
Denver released Russell Wilson this offseason, which opened a three-way competition for his old job. The Broncos’ QB candidates are former Auburn standouts Jarrett Stidham and Bo Nix and former New York Jets starter Zach Wilson.
“I think all three have done well,” Denver offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said during the final week of offseason practice. “I think it’s as deep of a room as I’ve been around just one through three. They’ve all got good talent. They’re all handling the installs well and coming along mentally, so been encouraged by all three.”
Preparing for his sixth NFL season, Stidham started Denver’s final two games of 2023. Wilson entered the NFL as the second player picked in the 2021 draft and started 33 games before the Jets traded him to the Broncos this offseason. Nix joined Denver from Oregon as the 12th selection in the NFL Draft on April 25.
While there are advantages to settling the quarterback question quickly, Payton said: “I think most importantly is the right decision.”
Although he has no NFL experience, Nix doesn’t seem to be behind the other two candidates.
“You can feel his 61 games played in college,” Lombardi said. “His experience, a calmness comes along with it, so he certainly doesn’t feel like a rookie. He’s learning a brand new system, so whether you’re a veteran or a rookie coming in that’s common to all these people. But he’s seen a lot and doesn’t make the same mistake twice very often. And so there’s a maturity level. I think when you draft a guy who’s a little bit older, you hope that that comes with it.”
At 24 years old, Nix is 48 days older than Denver cornerback Patrick Surtain II, a former Alabama All-American preparing for his fourth NFL season.
“I think he’s very composed,” Surtain said about Nix during a Friday appearance on “The Jim Rome Show.” “You can tell he knows how to run an offense. He’s got all the intangibles. He makes the right reads, makes the right throws every time. It feels like one practice where he was like almost pitch perfect. I just think his confidence and his ability to translate what he learned from college to the NFL to now is pretty awesome to see. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us, for sure. It’s going to be pretty exciting, but so far, he’s been doing great things.”
The Broncos’ leading receiver last season, wide receiver Cortland Sutton came in for Denver’s mandatory minicamp last week for his first work with Nix.
“He’s a very mature individual,” Sutton said. “For a rookie, he has an aura about himself. He carries himself in a way that you kind of expect quarterbacks to carry themselves. I think he has a really good room to lean on. Zach Wilson being a guy that was drafted in the first round. I think he was like the No. 2 overall pick in his draft. Having Jarrett – Jarrett’s a guy, he’s a student of the game, somebody that was able to learn behind Russ last year, pick his brain on some of the things that he does well.
“I think Bo is embracing where he is. I think that he’s embracing the expectations that is coming with him being a first-round-pick quarterback. … He’s not wearing it as a burden. He’s carrying it with a lot of pride, and he carries himself with a lot of maturity. That was, like, the first thing that I noticed about him was his maturity level of how he’s carrying himself. He’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
Payton said each of the quarterbacks received an equal opportunity during the Broncos’ offseason program as Denver seeks to settle on a starter.
“We’re rolling them different with the ones, twos and threes,” Payton said. “But we’re kind of doing the same thing with a lot of the other position groups. I just feel like this is the time of the year to do that. I would say I have an end date: That would be the week before the first game. But I don’t have a set date.”
Payton was asked if the choice would be made with Game 1 of the 2024 season as the top priority or based on a long-term outlook for the team.
“We always talk about the locker room and the players in the locker room,” Payton said, “and so I think when we get into training camp and we get into the preseason games, I think oftentimes the decisions take care of themselves. But the object is to win. I understand the question, but in our league it’s year-to-year. And so we’re competing to win this year, and we’re going to make the right decision relative to who gives us that opportunity, and I think not only at quarterback, the thing I see different this offseason is in the secondary, at the receiver group — there’s a lot of competition for jobs and playing time. That’s encouraging, and I think you guys who followed and who watched these (practices) a year ago, maybe you see something that’s different. Certainly, I feel like it’s been different.”
At Pinson Valley High School, Nix led the Indians to consecutive AHSAA Class 6A championships. Nix set AHSAA career records for yards of total offense and touchdown responsibility and was an All-State selection in 2017 and 2018. In his senior season, he also was selected as Alabama’s Mr. Football and the Class 6A Back of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.
During the 2023 season, Nix set an NCAA FBS single-season record by completing 77.45 percent of his passes as he set school records with 4,508 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes for Oregon.
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.
During his three seasons at Auburn, Nix completed 628-of-1,057 passes for 7,251 yards with 39 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. In two seasons at Oregon, Nix competed 658-of-879 passes for 8,101 yards with 74 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
