Jarrett Stidham to Open Season on the Hot Seat in Denver?

A fourth-round pick of the Patriots in 2019 who spent two seasons on the bench in New England before heading out to Las Vegas for a year as a backup for the Raiders, 27-year-old Jarrett Stidham now finds himself atop the quarterback depth chart for the Broncos to start his second season in Denver.

And, with former No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson and first-round rookie Bo Nix (selected No. 12 overall in April) listed behind him, Stidham is also already on the hot seat.

With just four career starts under his belt split between Denver and Las Vegas, Stidham has far less experience as a starter in the NFL than Wilson (32 career starts for the Jets). While Stidham fared better than Wilson in his limited game action with six touchdowns and four interceptions, he's been nothing more than a serviceable play-out-the-string fill-in.

Wilson has been worse than that (12-21 as a starter with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions) and probably doesn't pose that much of a threat to Stidham, who has experience in Denver's system and is familiar with coach Sean Payton's offense. The same cannot be said for Nix, the sixth quarterback off the board in 2024.

Nix, 24, enters the NFL with a great deal of experience, having started 61 games across three seasons at Auburn and two at Oregon. In his final season with the Ducks, Nix completed an FBS record 77.4% of his pass attempts with 45 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

The first quarterback a team coached by Payton has selected in the first round of a draft in his lengthy tenure as a head coach, Nix was drafted to fill void that has existed at franchise quarterback in Denver since Peyton Manning retired following the team's victory in Super Bowl 50.

Last month Nix said he would be willing to accept a role as a backup but also indicated he wanted to start and is not content to sit on the sidelines and learn just because he's a rookie. "They'll play me when I'm ready so I'm going to do my best to get ready," he said.

The Broncos open their preseason schedule on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. By Monday morning, Stidham's seat could be scalding — if he still has it at all.