If the Denver Broncos had to play a football game tomorrow, Jarrett Stidham would start at quarterback with Ben DiNucci as the backup. Most sane Broncos fans feel a certain kind of puckering at the thought.
The question is, does Sean Payton feel the same way? He talked Stidham up last year when the Broncos signed the young journeyman backup,
extolling his starting-caliber virtues and whatnot, but when the rubber met the road, and Payton inserted him into the starting lineup to end the season, it was the epitome of replacement-level quarterbacking.
If Payton’s competitive peers around the NFL recognize the dearth of talent on Denver’s QB depth chart, fans can only hope, and safely assume, the Broncos head coach does, too.
After all, Payton is widely regarded as one of the sharpest, savviest offensive coaching minds in the NFL.
According to ESPN’s Jordan Reid, an anonymous AFC executive doesn’t buy for a second that Payton plausibly views his current quarterback room as a finished product.
“No way Sean [Payton] goes into the year with that quarterback room,” said exec reportedly told Reid.
Despite the inside information provided to Reid, the ESPNer went on to almost contradict himself by then predicting that Denver will trade back — instead of taking a quarterback at No. 12 overall.
