Why Broncos coach Sean Payton believes Jarrett Stidham ‘will be ready’ for the challenge in the AFC Championship – Denver Sports
The Broncos can only give Jarrett Stidham but so many repetitions in practice during the regular season as the backup quarterback to Bo Nix.
In OTAs and training camp, no problem. There’s a fairly equitable split of work for the top two quarterbacks — and more often than not, the No. 3 passer, too — as the coaches look to get enough of an evaluation on players up and down the roster.
And then there was the preseason on-field work. In August, Stidham shone during his two contests, fileting the defenses of the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals for a 143.0 rating on 30-of-38 passing for 376 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions in a pair of Broncos wins.
That came against reserves, practice-squad players and some who are now out of the NFL entirely, but all you can do is face the opposition in front of you, and Stidham appeared more comfortable, settled and crisp than in his two previous preseasons in the Broncos offense. Given the history of how time in the scheme yields better results for Sean Payton’s backups, it’s possible that the same progression could happen for Stidham when it counts.
But the copious work Stidham got in the summer months dribbled to a trickle when the regular season arrived.
“With a young quarterback, look, Stiddy would take some reps, especially during that bye week, before the playoffs began,” Payton explained.
“But in a lot of cases — like I would say, it would be rare around the league in a 10(-play) team period for a coach to have seven (snaps for the starter) and three (for the backup), and then the next team period, 12 plays to be eight and four. That’s mythical. That just doesn’t happen.
“Generally in a work week, the reps are limited and the starter wants them.”
Thus, Stidham must maximize “mental reps,” going through plays without actually executing them in practice, given the need for Bo Nix to get most of the work as the starter.
“One of Stiddy’s great strengths is his mental aptitude and his progressions and understanding plays,” Payton said.
And according to Payton, that means when Stidham DOES get his opportunities, he has a tendency to dice up the defense.
“Like, there’d be practices where I’m looking at (Broncos defensive coordinator) Vance (Joseph) getting pissed off because Stiddy’s making our defense look bad,” Payton said. “He’s very accurate. He’s got a lot to his ball.”
BRONCOS OFFENSE COULD LOOK DIFFERENT WITH STIDHAM
Payton acknowledged as much Sunday when asked about whether he would alter the Broncos’ game plan to account for the change in starting quarterbacks.
“I think the plan’s always got to be built around the type and the skill set of the players you’re playing with,” Payton said. “And so, are there certain things that Bo does differently than Stiddy? Absolutely. And that’s where the work begins [Sunday night].”
One area could be play-action passes. During Stidham’s four starts over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he posted a 113.4 passer rating on 35 play-action attempts, compared with an 80.9 figure on all other passes. Compare that with the play-action/non-play-action splits for Nix in the 2025 season: 90.1 on play-action and 86.9 on all other passes, per data compiled by Pro Football Focus.
Stidham used the play-action to particularly brilliant effect in his first career start for the Las Vegas Raiders against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 of the 2022 campaign. Of course, Stidham’s play-caller for that game was Josh McDaniels, then the Raiders’ head coach who guided the seven-year veteran through his first three campaigns with the New England Patriots as their offensive coordinator before bringing Stidham with him to Las Vegas in 2022.
That brings another layer of intrigue to this matchup: McDaniels knows what Stidham’s strengths have been. Once again serving as the Pats’ offensive coordinator, McDaniels will share all of that intel with New England’s defensive coaches.
“I know exactly how he was coached in New England. Then I know how McDaniels felt about him when he brought him from New England to Vegas,” Payton said.
But Payton knows what other clubs Stidham has added to his bag with his practice-field development over the last three Broncos seasons.
“It’s our three years here, in our three years, watching him day-in and day-out that you guys don’t have access to,” Payton said. “He will be ready to go and ready for the moment.”
The Broncos hope that can make all the difference as they try to make history and boldly go where no NFL team has ever gone before: to plug in a quarterback making his first start of the season to win a conference championship.
