How much can final game boost Stidham 2024 Starter campaign?
Parker Gabriel, Broncos beat reporter
Somehow, it’s 2024 and the Broncos are playing their final game of the season Sunday in Las Vegas. Jarrett Stidham’s making his second start after throwing for 224 yards and a touchdown in a mostly steady, unspectacular-but-turnover-free debut against the hapless Los Angeles Chargers. So, what’s a guy gotta do to win the 2024 starting job around here? Can he win it with a big outing against the Raiders? Make himself the leader in the clubhouse? Blow it all with a bad afternoon at the craps table… I mean, Allegiant Stadium? To me, the best thing he can do is not ask for a raise. That’s only a half-joke. Stidham’s salary cap number for 2024 is $7 million at the moment. The Broncos won’t likely be able to go much above that in searching for a replacement, which is good news for Stidham.
The other good news is he’s got a year’s head start on whoever Denver brings in, be it a draft pick or, like, Gardner Minshew. Cheap and reliable. That’s the exciting tag line the Broncos will be able to afford at the position next year if they, as expected, move on from Russell Wilson and invite the salary cap restrictions that come with such a move.
Ryan Mcfadden, Broncos beat reporter
Stidham can throw for 350-plus yards and two touchdowns against the Raiders on Sunday and I still won’t be comfortable naming him Denver’s long-term answer at quarterback. But the reality is the Broncos can only do so much at the position in the offseason. When you look at the free-agent market, there’s not a single quarterback who can come in and turn this offense around. Not only that, the Broncos played themselves out of the conversation for Caleb Williams and Drake Maye and don’t have a ton of draft capital to put together a trade package to move up into the top two or three of the draft. At the moment, there’s two scenarios I see for the Broncos. 1) They can draft someone like Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. and let them battle it out with Stidham for the starting spot during training camp. 2) They can let Stidham be the starter for the entire 2024 season and hope they are in a position to draft Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 draft. I know that’s wishful thinking but how cool would that be? Either way, I don’t see Stidham as the long-term answer and it’s time for the Broncos to start building through the draft.
Matt Shubert,
Post sports editor
It really depends on what you mean by “2024 starter.” Are we talking about all 17 games? Or just the first 2-3 until he gets the hook for (insert rookie quarterback here)? If it’s the former, it’s time for Stidham to deliver the game of his life in Vegas. We’re talking 400-plus yards, three-plus touchdowns and no picks in a resounding win over a very mediocre Raiders team — albeit one the Broncos haven’t beat in seven games. Even then, I would be more than a little hesitant to hand over the keys to the Broncos Country Cadillac. The better scenario, at least in my mind, is Stidham entering training camp as the No. 1 QB with one of Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., LSU’S Jayden Daniels or Oregon’s Bo Nix ready to compete for the job right away. There’s a legitimate reason Stidham is on the third team of his NFL career. And it isn’t because he hadn’t found the right landing spot until now. Remember, the Raiders gave Stiddy a two-game tryout at the end of last season. What did that get him? Another backup job in Denver. Gotta believe it will be more of the same next fall, regardless of what he does on Sunday.