ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Because the Denver Broncos closed out their first week of OTAs Thursday, coach Sean Payton was fast to reward all three of his quarterbacks within the competitors for the crew’s beginning job, together with rookie Bo Nix.
Requested about Nix’s progress for the reason that crew made him the sixth quarterback chosen within the first spherical in final month’s draft (No. 12 total), Payton stated: “Good, he is farther alongside than most can be. We’re speaking a few participant who’s performed 61 video games [in college]. He is extraordinarily sensible. He is picked it up in a short time.”
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Payton has been clear Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson, who the Broncos acquired in a commerce with the New York Jets within the days earlier than the draft, are in a full-scale competitors for the beginning job. Payton was additionally fast to go with the work of all three and simply as fast to level out nothing must be learn into Nix opening Thursday’s observe with the crew’s offensive starters.
Payton stated Stidham labored with the starters extra in Tuesday’s observe and Wilson labored with the starters in Wednesday’s observe.
“We attempt to cut up up all of the reps,” Payton stated. “There’s going to be a time while you learn into the reps, I do not assume it is early in OTAs. It is type of the orphan group, they’re all orphan canines. They’ve come from someplace, however they’re doing good. It is a good room.”
Payton additionally stated: “We go by what we see. We attempt to get them as many reps as potential. We rotate. We’re rotating all of them proper now. They’re all in a race to study this method. Man, they’re doing nicely.”
It’s Payton’s first, and solely different, quarterback competitors he has overseen as a head coach since 2021. That was Payton’s closing season because the New Orleans Saints’ head coach and the primary season after Drew Brees’ retirement when Payton stated Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill competed for the beginning job.
Requested about his basic philosophy about taking part in, and beginning, a rookie quarterback like Nix, Payton stated a lot trusted how a lot the rookie confirmed he was ready to play by the point the season began.
Payton and basic supervisor George Paton stated Nix’s expertise and maturity — given his 61 video games in 5 school seasons at Auburn and Oregon — have been elements in his choice by the crew. Nix was the primary quarterback the Broncos chosen within the first spherical since Paxton Lynch in 2016 and the Broncos’ highest collection of a quarterback within the first spherical since Jay Cutler, at No. 11 total, in 2006.
“I feel a few of it’s a byproduct of what you will have within the constructing. When you have a starter within the constructing then that is the trail you go, and typically you do not have that luxurious, then that is the trail you go,” Payton stated. “A number of it’s depending on the quarterback, his psychological make-up.”