The Denver Broncos have three quarterbacks right now, but one of them has a rehab timeline that's a moving target
The Denver Broncos currently have three quarterbacks on their roster, but one of them, Bo Nix, is on a rehab timeline for his broken ankle that’s constantly shifting.
That raises the question of whether the Broncos could add another quarterback as a camp arm this summer, and coach Sean Payton answered it this weekend in his press conference as the Broncos went through their rookie minicamp, according to a report by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
“That’s a great question,” Payton said. “We’ll discuss that. It means look, we have 90 [roster spots], so it is possible you can bring someone back in on a trial basis for the minicamp. Yet generally with those practices, two [quarterbacks] is not a problem. It would be more of an issue if you felt a player was going to be a PUP in training camp, and that’s not going to be the case."
Payton probably called this a great question because he’s sick of talking about Nix, whose return to the field has been a moving target since January. The Broncos brought in Nathan Peterman and E.J. Warner, son of Kurt, for quarterback tryouts at minicamp, and Payton was more than happy to talk up Warner.
“I’m not saying we couldn’t sign an additional quarterback. We’ve discussed it, but really more in terms of, ‘Do we see something in these two guys?’ This [E.J.] Warner reminds me a lot of Chase Daniel. If you see his height, weight, size, speed, they’re very similar. He’s done a nice job. He’s done a very nice job and especially considering he’s coming off a weekend with different terminology, and he’s kind of yawned at it. It’s been real quick for him.”
Payton also talked up Warner’s ability to get in and out of the huddle quickly, which may or may not have been a passive-aggressive shot at Nix given the problems the Denver had getting plays called in time late in the season.
“He has a quick release and a good stroke,” Payton added. “[He’s a] different type [of] player even. He’s probably more celebrated coming out of Fresno [State] than his dad was coming out of Northern Iowa.”
The Chase Daniels comp is interesting given that Payton made Daniels his well-paid backup in New Orleans from 2009-2012. After that comment, though, Payton began to bury the media with information and speculation about a completely different subject, which is a working tactic of multiple coaches from the Bill Parcells coaching tree when there’s something else they don’t want to discuss, i.e., Nix.
The overall point he made is that quarterbacks from small schools like Warner are now able to move up the college football ladder, as Warner did by going from Temple to Rice to Fresno State, because there’s more available NIL money at the bigger schools. The upshot of all this is that Warner could get a spot on Denver’s offseason roster, which makes him a player to watch this summer when training camp starts.