Denver Broncos take calculated risk in signing QB Jarrett Stidham
Mar 13, 2023, 1:17 PM | Updated: 4:43 pm
Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images
The Denver Broncos didn’t just dig with a shovel, they took every stick of dynamite they could find and blasted deeper. Greg Penner may as well of dialed up Elon Musk for another failed boring machine to attempt a dig into Earth’s core so that the Broncos could find the deepest pit of quarterback misery possible.
Denver eschewed Brett Rypien’s low tender deal of $2.63 million, to turnaround and sign young journeyman Jarrett Stidham for $5 million a year over the next two seasons.
While there are likely many ways for the Broncos to escape Stidham’s deal, it still was a shot across the bow to Russell Wilson.
Mike Klis of 9NEWS and a contributor to 104.3 The Fan initially noted that moving on from Rypien would be a financial saving as many backups could be acquired for far less.
Nope!
The Broncos went in the exact opposite direction, doubling their financial investment to a second-string gunslinger.
Wilson is now on notice.
It’s still your gig Russ, but we aren’t gonna twiddle our thumbs if you stink on the field. This also means the Broncos will not look at quarterbacks in the NFL Draft anytime soon. Sean Payton loves reclamation projects (Drew Brees, Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater) and now Stidham is next in line. It doesn’t rule out taking a developmental quarterback in later rounds, but it certainly makes it clear what the plan is if Wilson doesn’t work out. In addition, it’s a calculated risk by Stidham based on the possibility of playing.
Stidham was a fourth-round pick by the Patriots in 2019. Current Raiders head coach, Josh McDaniels, who was the Patriots offensive coordinator at the time, obviously liked him enough to get him to Vegas. But, with the Raiders rolling out the red carpet for heart throb Jimmy Garoppolo, the former Auburn Tiger Stidham became available.
Stidham has played in 13 games, throwing for 926 yards at a 58.8 percent completion rate. He has six TDs to seven interceptions.
Ya know, shrug.
But wowza! Double what you could’ve paid Rypien? That’s saying something.
While certainly not the planned future, he is a quarterback of the future unlike what Josh Johnson, Rypien and Jarrett Guarantano were to the Broncos last year.
The new backup does put a bit of heat on Wilson. It’s not the safety net that Andy Dalton or Teddy Bridgewater would’ve been. Payton has just put his virtual foot down telling Russ to be better or else.
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