Jarrett Stidham’s outlook
By: Jake Rajala
It appears the Denver Broncos are hell-bent on winning a Super Bowl with their backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham. They decided not to bring in a veteran QB for a vacation. I would have loved to see Derek Carr or Andrew Luck unretire, but their hearts aren’t commited to the daily grind of football.
With that said, a fascinating question arises: what should we expect from Stidham? He was drafted by eight time Super Bowl Champion, Bill Belichick, before Payton had his eyes on him. So, it seems that two of the great football minds think highly of him.
Stidham went 1-1 with the Broncos in 2023. He threw two touchdowns to one interception. He also had 496 passing yards and a 60.6 completion percentage. I don’t love that he went 0-2 with the Raiders in the season prior, however.
The reason that Payton has such high confidence in him is due to his preseason play. He unleashed 30 out of 38 passes, 376 passing yards, and had a 143 passer rating. I would have liked to see him start over Russell Wilson last season. I believe he has more upside and accuracy.
If Tim Tebow can have some success in the playoffs, then Jarrett sure can win a game in big moments. They aren’t asking Jarrett to throw 350 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. Tebow or Peyton Manning (in his last playoff run) didn’t lean on their arm to dazzle defenses. They have quality RBs and WRs that can make plays in space and help convert third downs and red zone trips. Furthermore, they have a defense that had more sacks than any other defense this season.
I don’t believe this is a situation where Jarrett could take the job away from Bo Nix if he performs well. Bo Nix has elite potential and there are only a couple of games to witness Jarrett play.
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