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QB Scoreboard: Jarrett Stidham throws four touchdowns on Day 14 of Denver Broncos Training Camp

August 8, 2024

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Three. More. Days.

The countdown is on before the Denver Broncos head to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in their first preseason game on Sunday. The game is scheduled for 11 a.m. DNVR will be live on YouTube for 30 minutes leading up to kickoff and for an hour after the final whistle on Sunday.

Thursday’s practice was the Broncos’ final camp-style practice, before they turn their attention to the Colts for Friday’s practice. They’ll have a walkthrough Saturday morning before they leave for Indianapolis in the afternoon.

The Broncos didn’t wore shoulder pads and shorts on Thursday for their 14th practice of the fall. I don’t expect pads on Friday.

Thursday’s practice was physical and competitive. It included a team run period to start the day off.

Quarterback Scoreboard

Thursday’s practice included four competitive passing periods for the quarterbacks.

Seven-on-sevens came first. Then a fringe red-zone team period. Then a deep red-zone period. Then a situational period.

Here’s the situation: the offense has the ball with 38 seconds left in the first half. The game is tied. The ball is on the offense’s 41-yard line. Both sides had one time out.

Jarrett Stidham: A

Jarrett Stidham put together his best day of training camp on his 28th birthday.

He was fine in the first couple of passing periods, with short completions to Adam Trautman and Lucas Krull in seven-on-sevens, and short passes to Trautman and Javonte Williams in the first team period.

Then, in the two most competitive periods of the day, Stidham took off.

In the deep red zone drill, Stidham was incredible. He hit Nate Adkins for a touchdown on a curl from seven yards out. Then he lobbed a ball to the side of the end zone from the six-yard line and Devaughn Vele reached out with one hand to snag the ball with PJ Locke in coverage. It was the best catch we’ve seen in training camp, and no other has come close.

OKAY, ROOK!

Devaughn Vele with an unbelievable catch at #BroncosCamp 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PJ0NdMcM3M
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 8, 2024

Not, Stidham ripped a ball to the back middle of the end zone for Marvin Mims Jr. between Devon Key and Pat Surtain II. To cap things off, Stidham scored a two-yard touchdown to Michael Bandy in the flat.

Stidham put on a clinic.

In the situational drill, Stidham put himself in a tough spot early. He hit Krull for a six-yard gain in the flat, but he stayed in bounds and the clock ran. On second down, he aimed for Vele in the middle of the field but couldn’t connect.

On 3rd & 4, Stidham was still on his own half of the field with only 15 seconds remaining. Tim Patrick got a step on Riley Moss up the sideline, but the ball was overthrown.

That’s when head coach Sean Payton put a tweaked the situation. Since the drill was essentially over—Payton would’ve opted for a punt—he said that everything would stay the same, except it was now the fourth quarter and the offense is down three.

In other words, Payton turned it into a go-for-it situation, instead of a punt situation to keep the drill alive.

It was still 4th & 5 with 10 seconds left. Stidham tried for Lil’Jordan Humhprey 10 yards down the middle of the field—enough to set up a 60-yard field goal try if the offense had time to spike the ball—but Ja’Quan McMillian dove to break up the pass.

While Stidham wasn’t perfect on Thursday, his work in the deep red zone period was immaculate. It’s enough for him to earn the best grade of any quarterback in camp.

Bo Nix: C

Like Stidham, Bo Nix‘s day started slowly.

In seven-on-sevens, Stidham hit short passes to Troy Franklin and Hunter Kampmoyer. But he finished the drill with an ill-advised curl to Humphrey. Cornerback Reese Taylor read the play the entire way and broke on the ball. He probably should have picked it off, but only came away with a pass breakup.

Nix did well to find a wide-open Blake Watson on a corner route in the fringe red-zone drill. Watson came free about 15 yards downfield and easily walked the final 10 yards into the end zone.

Nix picked up six yards to Franklin on 1st & Goal from the eight-yard line.

On a 2nd & Goal from the six-yard line, Nix stepped straight in Jonah Elliss‘ arms for a sack. Then he extended the play and tried to throw to the flat and Moss broke it up.

On 3rd & Goal, Nix tried for Krull on a slant but the ball bounced off the receivers hands. Maybe the pass was nine inches too far out in front, but I think it was a good ball.

On 3rd & Goal from the 3, Nix tried another slant, this time to Vele, and Kris Abrams-Draine broke it up.

In the situational drill, Nix found Franklin for nine yards on the sideline. Franklin stepped out of bounds to stop the clock.

On 2nd & 1, Matt Henningsen burst through the middle of the line for a sack. The offense called its timeout.

Nix had a 3rd & 5 with 27 seconds remaining. He went deep for Phillip Dorsett past Damarri Mathis, but the coverage was good and the ball fell incomplete.

Once again—facing a clear punting situation—Payton tweaked the rules to keep the drill alive. He did the same thing, changing the scenario from a tie game before halftime to a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Stidham dropped back on 4th & 5 and found Thomas Yassmin to his left. The offense spiked the ball with five seconds remaining, setting up a (hypothetical) 62-yard field goal that would (hypothetically) send the game to overtime.

Zach Wilson: B

Unfortunately for Zach Wilson, the third-teamers didn’t get a chance to try the situational drill.

Fortunately, he still had some great moments.

Wilson hit Patrick on a cross for a 25-yard touchdown in seven-on-sevens. Then he hit Williams on a wheel route past Andre Smith for a 20-yard touchdown. He just about had a third when he lobbed a jump ball to Krull, but Smith contested it well and the ball fell in complete.

The third touchdown came when He found Brandon Johnson on the goal line after rolling out. In a game situation, he probably would have been sacked, but in seven-on-sevens Wilson had time to get the throw off.

Wilson was sacked three times in 11-on-11s. He also hit Bandy for an eight-yard touchdown on a back-shoulder pass.

Maybe I’m being too generous here—Wilson has a tendency to draw sacks, which means he probably deserves some blame for the pressure—but there was plenty to get excited about on Thursday.

GPAs
Average of daily grades.

Jarrett Stidham: 2.80 (B-)
Bo Nix: 2.55 (B-)
Zach Wilson: 2.07 (C)

Eyioma Uwazurike looks ready

Eyioma Uwazurike missed his entire sophomore season with a gambling suspension, but he returned last week after the league office decided to reinstate him.

The former fourth-round pick is slowly working back into the mix… but after a few days he looks like himself. Or maybe an even better version of himself.

The Broncos held one-on-ones between the offensive and defensive lines on Thursday—I’ll have more details below—and Uwazurike shined.

He beat Quinn Meinerz. He beat Alex Forsyth.

There are two ways to look at this:

You can be scared that the Broncos’ star guard and potential starting center both lost reps to a guy who hasn’t played football for a year.
You can be really freaking excited about the 6-foot-6, 320-pounder could bring to the Broncos’ defensive line.

I’ll add this: Meinerz and Forsyth both looked solid in their other reps.

And one more nugget: On his first play of full-team drills on Thursday, Uwazurike blew up the middle of the offensive line and notched a sack of Zach Wilson.

In theory, Uwazurike should need much more time before he’s ready to stake a claim for a roster spot, but he’s off to a dream start in his return.

One-on-ones

As noted above, the Broncos pit their offensive line against their defensive line and edge rushers on Thursday. I didn’t see every rep because eat drill was simultaneous with seven-on-sevens.

Here’s what I saw…

Jonathon Cooper beat Mike McGlinchey around the edge.
Meinerz locked up Jordan Jackson.
I thought Forsyth beat Hennignsen, but Forsyth was driven a step or two backward. Henningsen cooked Oliver Jervis later on.
Garett Bolles beat Baron Browning.
Alex Palczewski stuffed Durell Nchami. Palczewski pancaked Jaylon Allen on a toss during team drills.
Matt Peart beat Elliss.
Will Sherman won his rep against Uwazurike.
Calvin Throckmorton, who I’ve been impressed with recently, beat Elijah Garcia.

Notes

Payton said earlier this week that he and his staff would meet Wednesday to discuss who will play with the first wave, second wave and third wave of players against the Colts. On Thursday, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said the meeting would be that afternoon.
The defense probably won the team run period. Browning blew up a run from the back side. Alex Singleton blitzed and nabbed a tackle for loss. He put the best pop on Audric Estime that we’ve seen so far in camp.

Click here for our updated 53-man roster projection.

Check out our Day 13 notes here.

Check out our Day 12 notes here.

Check out our Day 11 notes here.