The Denver Broncos kick off the NFL preseason this Sunday with a road contest against the Indianapolis Colts. Head coach Sean Payton has previously indicated that he plans on playing his starters in the preseason as the team looks to prepare themselves for a stretch run in the regular season.
Denver Broncos starters expected to play quality snaps in preseason opener
Like last year, Broncos head coach Sean Payton wants to see his team and the starters get valuable in-game reps against an opposing look than what they’ve seen all throughout training camp. Last year’s sample rate for starters saw them play around 15-18 snaps in the first two games, and that could very well be the case going into Sunday’s opener.
“I would say it would be closer to that than anything else,” Payton said. “Those weren’t by quarters—they were more by rep count. I think last year we were somewhere between 15 and 18. I would think that would be correct.”
Who will get the start or the first reps between Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham? That will be determined by Payton and his staff here in the next 24-48 hours.
“Tonight, we’ll discuss this preseason game and the rotation,” Payton said. “I’ll have more of that for you guys tomorrow.”
Based on keeping track of reps during practice, Nix has received first-team reps with the offense on six of the last nine practices, if that’s worth anything. Despite the team’s unofficial depth chart listing him as the third-string quarterback, anybody who has been paying attention to each practice knows that his placement isn’t reflective of his actual status on the team.
If we had to guess, this can go a couple of ways.
A: Payton comes out and announces Nix as the starter for the regular season and gives him those 15-18 snaps in the first two preseason games, holding him out of the third.
B: Payton starts Stidham this week and gives Nix the start next week when the Broncos host the Green Bay Packers.
OR
C: Nix starts on Sunday against the Colts and Stidham starts next week against the Packers, and Payton announces a starter after Week 2 of the preseason.
Regardless, the Denver Broncos have an actual game this Sunday and there will be so many players and position battles to evaluate following the action.
