ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The first week of Denver Broncos‘ training camp set a straight-forward precedent to how Sean Payton was designing the all-important quarterback competition.
Jarrett Stidham got the first day with the starers, the next day it was Bo Nix‘s turn and the third day Zach Wilson got the nod. Then the process started over.
On Monday, the second week of training camp appeared, for the most part, to follow the same circular and fair rotation as Nix got the start following Stidham’s day with the ones the practice before.
Five days into camp, a precedent appeared to have been set.
That all changed on Tuesday. And might indicate a shift in the Broncos’ quarterback competition.
The sixth practice of training camp was supposed to be Wilson’s day. At least that’s what the initial quarterback rotation was slotted for.
Instead, Stidham got the nod for a second time in three practices.
After practice, however, Sean Payton quickly tried to squash any meaning to this. When asked by the media about noticing a “little adjustment to the quarterback reps” in practice, the head coach responded firmly.
“No. We’re still—look, we’ve got a plan and today—Yesterday, Bo ran with the ones, Zach with the twos. Today, Stiddy was with the ones. No news to announce there,” Payton stated. “I know you’re looking for it, but—”
Despite Payton downplaying any change has been made, as of Tuesday, what started as an equal competition has transitioned to be a lopsided one, in terms of reps with the starters. Stidham has had three days with the ones, Nix two and Wilson only one.
With the former No. 2-overall pick appearing to be on his way out of the competition, the head coach was asked directly if Wilson will get time with the starters moving forward.
“We’ll see,” he said, not committing one way or there other. “Just like I said, there’s nothing to announce.”
It’s not a surprise for the quarterback rotation to start changing. In fact, on Saturday, Payton himself told the media to expect it in the near future.
“The rotation has been pretty consistent. I think that will begin to change a little bit as we get into the next week and a half to two weeks,” the head coach said following the team’s fourth practice of camp on Saturday. “Right now, we’ve kind of been in this pretty consistent pattern and I think it’s hard for that to stay the same throughout all of camp.”
On Tuesday, Payton himself broke the consistent pattern that had been present to start camp. But he didn’t want to announce it to the world.
