Broncos QB Starter Bo Nix Praises Jarrett Stidham & Zach Wilson

Bo Nix offered some magnanimous words to his fellow Denver Broncos quarterbacks after vanquishing them in open competition.

Aug 18, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) and quarterback Jarrett Stidham (8) before the preseason game against the Green Bay Packers at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Not everyone can win in an open competition. When it comes to deciding the Denver Broncos starting quarterback battle, there can be only one.

Highlander quotes aside, Wednesday was a momentous day around Broncos HQ, as rookie Bo Nix was named the team's starting quarterback by head coach Sean Payton. Nix is set to become the first Broncos rookie signal-caller to start a Week 1 game since John Elway in 1983.

However, for every winner, there's at least one loser. In Nix's case, there are two losers in his wake — a pair of veterans the rookie vanquished in pursuit of Denver's QB1 supremacy. Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson were on the short end of that particular stick.

Nix held court with local media on Wednesday following Payton's announcement, basking in the glow of the news. While the quarterback depth chart is yet to be decided, and the final roster cut-downs loom, Nix had a message for his fellow Broncos in the room, starting with Stidham.

“We have a very mature room," Nix said. "They’ve been through a lot themselves. First of all, with ‘Stiddy,' he started behind one of the greatest ever. That is where his process began as a rookie, like me, behind the greatest of all time. He’s teaching me things that he learned and picked up at a young age that not many people get to experience. He’s handled the situation with first class. I respect everything that he has been able to do. He’s battled through a lot and has been given different situations, but he still shows up and gives us his best. That is going to pay dividends in the long run with me and being able to sit behind a guy like that and watch, learn, follow his routine and follow his process because he has been around some greats already."

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Nix is referencing Stidham's career beginnings in New England behind Tom Brady. Stidham was a 2019 fourth-round pick of the New England Patriots out of Auburn, an alma mater he shares with Nix.

Nix didn't finish his playing career at Auburn due to coaching turnover that didn't resonate with him. He transferred to Oregon to play out his final two seasons.

Stidham knows the Nix family, and was there to usher Bo and company around the campus on his recruiting visit years ago. Bo's father, Patrick Nix, also played quarterback at Auburn and is the O.G. progenitor of the 'Nix For Six' catchphrase that has followed his son, becoming a ubiquitous hashtag within Broncos Country.

Nix and Stidham share those deep SEC roots. Wilson, on the other hand, played his college ball at BYU and was drafted higher than either Nix or Stidham in 2021. The New York Jets drafted Wilson No. 2 overall, and he went on to start 33 games before flaming out.

Nix's has love and respect for Wilson, too.

"With Zach, he’s been there and done that," Nix said. "He started as a rookie. There is a lot that I can learn from him and a lot that he has already taught me."

Stidham and Wilson have NFL experience, though many would criticize it as "bad experience." There's no such thing. It's just experience.

A smart, cerebral player like Nix can pick and choose which lessons these quarterbacks impart to him resonate and put them to use. That takes discernment and maturity. Nix has both attributes.

"Having those two in the room with me on a day-to-day basis is going to be huge," Nix said. "I would be really dumb not to listen to those guys and not take what they have learned, [what they have] already been through and the experiences that they share. So hopefully the good happens again, and the bad doesn’t happen again.”

Time will tell whether Stidham and Wilson both stick on the Broncos' 53-man roster. I have my doubts, and with Wilson going on a "heater" of late (according to Payton), Stidham might be sweating a little bit more, especially with the knowledge that the Broncos could save $2.3 million on the salary cap by going with Wilson as the QB2, and cutting Stidham.

With how much Payton has gushed about Stidham over the last 18 months, it's hard to see him being released. He hasn't played poorly this summer. He's just been out-played by Nix, and, at times, Wilson.

The question is this: if something were to happen to Nix, who would you want to take over at quarterback? With the knowledge that it would be under the stewardship of a bonafide quarterback whisperer like Payton, Stidham of four career starts? Or Wilson of 33?

Another way of asking is, do you trust that the uber-talented Wilson would eclipse his previous production as a quarterback with Payton as his steward and play-caller? That is, if the Broncos had to turn to him.

I know which guy I'd roll with as the backup. And it's not Stidham. Not in this situation.

At the end of the day, Nix earned the starting gig, just as Payton hoped he would. Everyone in the Broncos locker room witnessed it. And nobody can take that away from the newly-anointed Broncos starting quarterback.

“We kind of set out a plan," Payton said on Tuesday. "I’m pleased with how he’s playing and it’s much easier to make a decision like that and much more difficult maybe if he wasn’t having this—you guys understand where I’m [going]. We got a chance to see it. That’s most important for the locker room, I think.”

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