The Denver Broncos have an established backup quarterback in Jarrett Stidham, but that may not quite be true.
The Denver Broncos have some significant positional battles coming, with the most impactful ones on offense involving the running backs and the receivers.
The Broncos need to be able to run between the tackles, and rookie Jonah Coleman is looking to move up the depth chart by showing he can do just that.
Meanwhile, the receivers are playing their own version of survivor, with the top tier competing for catches after the arrival of Jaylen Waddle, while the ones further down the ladder may be looking to catch on elsewhere due to the fierce competition.
But there’s another sneaky battle going on and that’s at backup quarterback. It may not be a genuine positional battle, but it is a real competition, with Luca Evans of the Denver Post stating that Sam Ehlinger “could push [Jarrett] Stidham for the backup job in training camp on sheer performance” in his second year in Denver’s offensive system in Evan’s latest round of takeaways from minicamp.
It’s a somewhat stunning statment, but there is something to it. Coach Sean Payton talked up Stidham before the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots, only to discover that Stidham is still a quarterback who throws a beautiful ball on occasion, only to succumb to bad turnovers at the worst possible moment.
Evans noted that Stidham largely has “largely looked like the same quarterback who struggled at times to get the ball out in January’s AFC Championship loss.”
Ehlinger, meanwhile, “has at times ran the offense smoother in team periods and continues to flash sneaky athleticism,” the writer added.
Payton has also talked up Ehlinger at times, although not as enthusiastically as he did with Stidham. He’s one of those coaches who thinks he can win with almost any quarterback due to his offensive acumen, but we haven’t seen any real proof on the field that that might be the case.
What we do know is that Stidham is the 18th-highest paid player on the team based on his AAV, and that might make him vulnerable after last year’s failure. It would be a huge risk to trade Stidham, although there were rumors that this might be happenig back in February. Those rumors turned out to be more smoke than fire, but highly-paid backups like Stidham are always vulnerable to some extent.
What’s really going on here is that Payton and the Broncos are trying to create competition at this position. They’ll be watching closely to see who’s better at running new offensive coordinator Davis Webb’s system, especially if it involves using Ehlinger’s athleticism. It’s something to watch going forward given that both quarterbacks will be getting plenty of reps with Nix still coming back from his broken ankle.
