Jarrett Stidham Shows Initiative as Broncos QB1 by Organizing Summer Activity

This is how an incumbent veteran takes the reins in a high-profile quarterback competition.

May 23, 2024; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham (8) and quarterback Bo Nix (10) during organized team activities at Centura Health Training Center. / Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

When mandatory minicamp was coming to a close last month, Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton teased an upcoming summer throwing session with his quarterbacks. Broncos training camp starts on July 26, with the rookies reporting on July 17 and the vets on July 23, but that unofficial quarterback/pass-catcher rendezvous is happening this week.

9NEWS' Mike Klis reported that incumbent quarterback Jarrett Stidham will host "Broncos quarterbacks and receivers," including Sutton, at Texas Christian University. Stidham's home is near TCU, and the throwing sessions started on Tuesday, per Klis.

Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham is hosting several of his offensive teammates near his Texas home this week with three or four days of workouts at TCU.

- Mike Klis

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A post shared by Jarrett Stidham (@jarrettstidham)

Sutton could use the reps with Stidham, Bo Nix, and Zach Wilson, considering that he skipped the entirety of the Broncos' voluntary portion of the offseason training program, showing up only for mandatory minicamp the second week of June. Sutton is asking the Broncos for a raise of sorts. While he's a veteran entering his sixth year, the team's quarterback room has undergone a massive makeover, so making up for lost time could be vital.

With a three-way quarterback competition ensuring, head coach Sean Payton hasn't put a deadline on naming the starter. It will be interesting to see how the first-team reps are divvied up when training camp starts.

"Workouts at TCU and several other bond-building activities are scheduled over the next few days, starting Tuesday," Klis wrote.

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For now, Stidham seems to have retained the Broncos' nominal QB1 designation, but Sutton, like all media observers and fans, knows that Nix — drafted at No. 12 overall in the first round — will see the field sooner or later. The most important thing to Sutton is winning, and not in the future — right now.

When the Broncos tap Nix to be the starter, Sutton doesn't foresee it being a "three or four-year process" to get the team back to its winning ways.

"I’m praying and also working towards and hopefully stay in guys’ ears that this is not going to be a three-year process," Sutton said back on June 11. "We want to win right now. Whoever winds up coming out, if it is Bo, if it is Jarrett or if it is Zach, whoever winds up coming out will give us the best chance to win. I think with Bo being a young guy and a guy they took really high, I understand the politics of the game and everyone is rooting for him to be the guy. I think he does a lot of things really well and I think he has the ability to go out and have success early. I don’t see this being a three or four-year process. If it becomes a three or four-year dynasty, then I hope I will be able to be a part of it.”

Kudos to Stidham for taking the initiative and gathering the Broncos' quarterbacks and receivers for this unsanctioned passing camp of sorts. As Klis wrote, from the time he first arrived in Denver, Peyton Manning was famous for organizing summer throwing sessions with the likes of the late Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Brandon Stokley, and, later, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanderson, and others.

It's an 'alpha' thing to do — organizing these unofficial sessions. And for a rookie yet to officially be christened the starter, being the guy to plan and host such a session might be viewed as jumping the shark. Better to let the more established veteran, and the Broncos' only incumbent quarterback, take the wheel.

For now.

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