The two starts of Jarrett Stidham didn’t change Sean Payton’s vision for him

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jarrett Stidham delivered two games of work to close the 2023 season that were decidedly a mixed bag. The Broncos offense struggled to find consistency and failed to crack 20 points in either of his two starts, split between a win over the injury-depleted Chargers and a loss at Las Vegas.

But despite the ups and downs of those games, Broncos coach Sean Payton still sees the same potential in the sixth-year quarterback that led the Broncos to sign Stidham to a 2-year, $10-million contract last year.

“That’s a good question,” Payton said Monday when asked about whether his vision for Jarrett Stidham was different after the two games he started last year. “Relative to his vision, it’s kind of exactly where we saw it a year ago. We felt like this is a player who can compete, and we felt like he has some upside. [He’s] a young player that has really played a limited amount of snaps relative to the years he has been in the league.

I asked Sean Payton about whether the vision for Jarrett Stidham had changed after the 2 games he played last season.

“That’s a good question. I think relative to his vision, it’s kind of exactly where we saw it a year ago. We felt like this is a player who can compete. …” pic.twitter.com/zu2RF7rMAI

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) March 25, 2024

“Did anything change in those last two games leading to this season? I can’t say in fairness to him or the process definitively that anything did other than we still feel really positive about this player. We’re anxious to see him when he’s getting a lot more snaps and work with the No. 1’s.”

It’s a sample-size thing. And in Payton’s eyes, two games at the end of a season were not enough to alter what he sees. But that being said, the Broncos are on the quarterback hunt — even though they didn’t sign or trade for a veteran in free agency. Broncos decision-makers have made it clear that they will add to the quarterback room in the coming weeks.

And the Broncos’ investment of a day in a private workout for Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy shows just how deeply they are evaluating the available draft-eligible talent, with Payton adding that a trade up in the first round was “realistic.”

Even though Ben DiNucci is the only other quarterback on the roster, Jarrett Stidham is not necessarily in the “driver’s seat” for the starting-quarterback position.

“He’s definitely competing to be the starter. I don’t think we have a term ‘driver’s seat,’ really,” Payton said. “He is going to compete for that position. I know he’s anxious and excited to do that. I’m sure there will be other candidates who will be competing with him.”