Tag: qb

Bo Nix, Zach Wilson, Jarrett Stidham, and Broncos’ QB depth chart, explained bo,nix,zach,wilson,jarrett,stidham,and,broncos,qb,depth,chart,explained,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,dot-com-grid-coverage

On: By: admin


There has been a lot of change at the quarterback position for the Denver Broncos in 2024. In came rookie first-round pick Bo Nix and beleaguered former first-round pick Zach Wilson; out went former Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson. The lone holdover, Jarrett Stidham, was the Broncos’ starting quarterback in their final two games last season.

As with any situation involving a rookie quarterback, there will likely be talk of a competition and all that heading into training camp. However, given the Broncos long run of bad seasons, we may be safe to assume Bo Nix will be starting sooner rather than later.

Will Bo Nix land at the top of the Broncos depth chart?

Here is where I predict the Broncos depth chart lands on Week 1 and why I think each player is poised to secure their respective spots on the positional depth chart.

QB1. Bo Nix

A perennial losing team over the last eight season isn’t going to draft a quarterback 12th overall and have him sit for a year. This is Bo Nix’s time to shine… or flop.

All the rumors and reports ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft seemed to center around the Broncos being the perfect fit for Nix, but most analysts had him as the fifth or sixth best quarterback in the draft. That would suggest he would be a late first or early second-round pick at best. However, the run on quarterbacks in the top 10 forced Denver’s hand. Many called it a horrible reach, but imagine the Broncos quarterback situation right now had they risked losing out on Nix by playing the value game? It would not be good to say the least.

Despite being the sixth quarterback taken in the draft, Nix was the No. 3 guy on the Broncos’ board all along and they absolutely love the kid.

“I would say, you can feel his 61 games played in college,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Nix after mandatory minicamp in mid-June. “With experience, a calmness comes along with it. So he certainly doesn’t feel like a rookie. He’s learning a brand-new system, so whether you’re a veteran or a rookie coming in, that’s common to all these people. He has seen a lot and doesn’t make the same mistake twice very often. There is a maturity level. I think when you draft a guy who is a little bit older, you hope that that comes with it, but he’s certainly shown that.”

Given the amount of games Nix has played and his age, it is unlikely Denver drafted him to sit for a year. They need a starting quarterback now.

Zach Wilson has been in the league for three seasons already and is just six months older than rookie Bo Nix. It just wouldn’t make sense for Bo Nix not to start Week 1. If he doesn’t, then the Broncos’ draft class is in serious doubt right out of the gate considering how little draft capital they had in the first two days of this year’s draft.

QB2. Zach Wilson

When Denver traded for Zach Wilson, I loved the idea of bringing in a project like him to potentially salvage his career. As a top draft picks, the pedigree is there and coaches will just need to work on bringing back the confidence.

The former No. 2 overall pick by the New York Jets has struggled to live up to his draft status with just a 57% completion rate and 6,293 yards with 23 touchdowns against 25 interceptions in his three-year career. It didn’t help that he was drafted by the Jets, who have struggled — like the Broncos — to field a competitive football team in recent years.

If he could get a few years under a coaching staff led by Sean Payton, I could see his later career being revitalized for a guy like Wilson.

QB3. Jarrett Stidham

At the end of the day, I do think Jarrett Stidham will likely be the better option as the Week 1 backup to Bo Nix. However, due to his contract and Wilson’s draft pedigree, I think he ends up the odd man out.

The main reason I think Wilson ends up beating out Stidham is on the money side of things. Both he and Wilson are under contract just for this year, but Wilson’s cap number is just $2.7 million compared to Stidham’s $7 million. From a pure numbers standpoint, it would seem like if they are somewhat close for that backup spot that Wilson will get the nod due to his contract and his draft pedigree.

I like Stidham as a backup a lot, and if he ends up beating out Wilson then I will not be sad about that.

What to expect from a Bo Nix-led Broncos team in 2024

There was a reason why many draft analysts had Bo Nix pegged as a top prospect for Sean Payton and his offensive system. The two seemed to be a perfect match for what Nix excels at and what Payton wants to do in his offense. We should also remember that Payton had a broken Russell Wilson in prime position to challenge for a playoff run late last season before those wheels finally came off, so perhaps the ceiling should even be raised a bit with a rookie quarterback at the helm.

As someone who watched a lot of film on the Broncos last year, Wilson left a lot of big plays out there. If Nix can begin seeing just a fraction of those wide-open receivers, then this offense is poised to make a respectable leap forward.

Obviously as a fan, I’ll be hoping for that outcome, but there will be growing pains — the kind that always come with a first-year starting quarterback. Denver will need to maintain a good defense and a strong rushing attack for Nix to excel and lead this team to the playoffs this season.

Poll

What do you think the Week 1 depth chart will be on Week 1?








  • 0%
    Bo Nix, Zach Wilson, Jarrett Stidham

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    Jarett Stidham, Bo Nix, Zach Wilson

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    Zach Wilson, Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    Jarett Stidham, Zach Wilson, Bo Nix

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    Zach Wilson, Jarrett Stidham, Bo Nix

    (0 votes)

  • 0%
    None of the above (share in comments)

    (0 votes)



0 votes total

Vote Now

An NFL ‘QB salary cap’ is the owners’ dumbest idea yet an,nfl,qb,salary,cap,is,the,owners,dumbest,idea,yet,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,nfl-free-agency,draftkings

On: By: admin


NFL owners are growing increasingly concerned about mammoth quarterback salaries, and reports indicate there have been some exploratory discussions on how to manage the spending.

Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network said on The Rich Eisen Show Wednesday that some owners have met about the possibility of installing a QB salary cap, which would limit the percentage of the cap which would be spent on a signal caller. Pelissero went on to say that the conversation right now is a non-starter, because so many teams have already paid their passers and don’t want to be hemmed in, but the fact this topic is being broached shows there could be some discussion on it in the future.

It’s a tricky subject to really address properly. On the one hand every player should be allowed to get whatever the free market allows them to, but there is a football reality to this as well. With such a mammoth chunk of a team’s cap being allocated to the QB position, it’s resulted in salaries plummeting at a variety of other positions, most notably at running back and safety, where players haven’t seen remotely the same raises in their compensation as other positions.

As it stands there are 11 quarterbacks in the NFL who account for over 20 percent of their respective team’s cap space this season. Meanwhile the highest-paid defensive player (T.J. Watt) accounts for 15 percent of the Steelers cap, with the vast majority of top-tier players falling in the 8-12 percent range. The owners would hold that if quarterback salaries were capped, let’s say for argument at 17.5 percent of the cap — that every other position would see more pay as a result. In addition, it would incentivize teams to pay better money for backup quarterbacks, which would ensure a more competitive team, should the starter be injured.

There is one huge problem with trying to initiate this kind of position-specific cap: It’s not in the CBA.

The NFL and NFLPA signed their most recent CBA in 2020, and it runs through the 2030 season. If owners wanted to change QB compensation to be a percentage of the total cap it would require an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement, which is something the NFLPA simply wouldn’t allow. Traditionally the union has pushed back on any and all cap-based compensation. The concern is that this would become a slippery slope for the league to implement cap-based spending for every position.

This is something nobody should want, because it would lead to league-wide homogenization. To keep football interesting we have to have some teams willing to overspend on offense vs. defense, and vice versa. If every team spent the same way then it would simply become a battle of the best markets and who drafted better, with little strategic wiggle room.

However, there exists a wrinkle to all this which Pro Football Talk is reporting on. Their sources say that NFL owners wouldn’t seek to codify percentage-based QB spending in the CBA, but rather make it an “unwritten rule” among teams.

“As we’ve heard it, it wouldn’t be an official, separate cap. It would be an unofficial, off-the-books (and, more importantly, off the CBA) arrangement pursuant to which teams would refuse to go above a certain level. All teams. Which would make it pointless for, say, Dak Prescott to force his way to the open market. The best deal he’d get from the Cowboys would be the same as the best deal he’d get from someone else. (It would be like a max contract in the NBA.)”

IT’S COLLUSION!

I’d refuse to believe NFL owners were this dumb, except that time and time again they’ve shown us that they are this dumb. If any conversations have taken place about how to pay quarterbacks amongst owners, and there’s a tacit agreement to keep pay down — then they are colluding against players, and the NFLPA by extension.

This isn’t some cute little idea to fool around with. It’s a blatant breach of the 2020-2030 CBA that could have profound implications. Not only would it be a breach of contract, but if there’s collusion on player compensation the NFLPA has the right to terminate the agreement immediately, which could lead to a prolonged lockout.

Section 2. Termination Due To Collusion:
(a) If at any time the conditions of Article 17, Section 16(a), (b), or (c) are satisfied, the NFLPA shall have the right to terminate this Agreement. To execute such termination, the NFLPA shall serve upon the NFL written notice of termination within thirty days after the System Arbitrator’s decision finding the requisite conditions becomes final. The parties agree, however, that such termination shall be stayed if any party appeals such finding to the Appeals Panel, and to seek expedited review from the Appeals Panel.

If conversations took place about circumventing the CBA to install a “QB cap,” then it’s created a mammoth problem for the NFL. Especially with Dak Prescott’s extension on the horizon, with a team that is in salary cap hell, it will warrant a massive investigation into the negotiations process by the NFLPA if it drags out. There were already rumors of collusion taking place in 2023 with Lamar Jackson, but if sources are telling Pro Football Talk that there could be work to suppress salaries then it opens up an entirely new can of worms.

Keep an eye on this story as it evolves, because there are some mammoth implications that take this well beyond simple talks of putting in a QB pay scale.