Sean Payton calls his three QBs “orphan dogs” after Broncos OTAs

The Denver Broncos wrapped up their first week of OTAs at the Centura Health Training Center on Thursday, and head coach Sean Payton met with the media.

The biggest question entering the 2024 season is who will be the team’s starting quarterback Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks.

No. 12 overall pick Bo Nix figures to get the majority of snaps this season, but the Broncos also traded for Zach Wilson from the Jets and Jarrett Stidham remains in the mix.

First and foremost, Payton is giving all three quarterbacks a shot.

“We go by what we see, we try to get them as many reps as possible. We rotate all of them right now. Tuesday, (Stidham) ran with the ones, and then Zach and then Bo. We’ll keep doing that right now,” Payton said.

So, each guy got a day to roll with the top players on offense. Stidham kicked off the week with Nix finishing it, and Wilson in the middle.

Payton joked about his group all needing a new home and they’ve hopefully found it in Denver.

“It’s kind of the orphan group. They’re all orphan dogs. They’ve come from somewhere, but they’re doing good. And it’s a good room,” Payton said.

Wilson was the No. 2 overall pick in New York, but that didn’t work out. Nix played five years in college, including stints with Auburn and Oregon. Stidham has bounced from New England to Las Vegas to Denver.

As for Wilson, Payton sounds like he’s willing to give him a shot.

“I like his experience, you can tell he’s played and I feel like he’s got very live arm strength. And he’s picking up the offense pretty quickly,” Payton said.

When it comes to Nix, it can be a lot for a rookie to get thrown into the depth of the playbook in the NFL. Payton doesn’t have many concerns thus far when asked about his adjustment.

“Good. He’s farther along than most would be. We’re talking about a player that’s played 61 (college) games. He’s extremely smart, he’s picked it up very quickly,” Payton said.

We probably won’t know who’s in the lead to be the No. 1 QB out of the gate until training camp.

Sean Payton is in the process of gathering that information over the next month.

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