Broncos HC Sean Payton sounds muted in raucous reactions to first depth chart

Much to the chagrin of many fans watching Denver Broncosquarterback competition underway, first unofficial depth chart – released Tuesday morning — revealed rookie Bo Nix at the bottom of the barrel. The first-round quarterback — who the fanbase’s hopes rest almost entirely on — is listed as the No. 3 guy.

The anxiety is understandable, but digging a little deeper, we see that every Broncos rookie has been named to the third team, regardless of draft pedigree. As we later learned from head coach Sean Payton, very little thought went into the depth chart, as he confessed he was “not ready” for one, but the NFL mandated Denver produce one with Game 1 of the preseason that coming up this weekend. .

Payton laughed off the idea that there was anything to read into Tuesday’s depth chart, joking that all the starters are listed shallowly on the third team so he can save time and not have to spend “40 minutes” analyzing media strategies with Chief Denver. communications officer and de facto PR czar Patrick Smyth.

“Just because it’s easy and then I don’t have to send 40 minutes with Patrick,” Payton said with a smile. “I can spend five. (laugh).”

Many a-truths are told in jest. What Payton says is the truth. Make no mistakes; this depth chart is not an absolute reflection of where things stand, with the various position battles still ongoing on the roster.

Now, there are a few places where a player’s placement on the depth chart had any reason or rhyme, most notably center, where Luke Wattenberg was listed as the only No. 1 guy.

“That’s right. He’s listed by himself,” Payton said of Wattenberg. “We have good competition there. We could have put ‘or’. I look at it and we get the list together. It’s ready by 2pm today. The word there is ‘unofficial’.”

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When pressed further on the symbolism of the first depth chart, however unofficial, Payton made it clear he wasn’t trying to send any message to the locker room Tuesday.

“No. I’m not ready for a depth chart, but I’ve got to get a depth chart,” Payton said. “It’s easy to push the highlighted players (starters) behind the line and then make sure that’s kind of where we’re sitting. right now. That’s really it. No, that’s a good question, but I’m not trying at all to send messages.”

The truth is, Nix has greatly reduced the margins between himself and Jarrett Stidham, who is listed as QB1. Zach Wilson, based on reps and overall momentum, became almost a non-factor outside of being a camp arm until he had a good workout on Monday. And yet, the third-year veteran is listed as QB2.

The bottom line is this, Broncos Country: This first depth chart is simply business as usual for Payton. The preseason begins Sunday for the Broncos with a road trip to face Indianapolis Colts.

“You want to see your team being efficient and smart. You want to figure out the things you’ve been working on in terms of the scheme and what we’re doing,” Payton said of the quarterback’s expectations this weekend. “It’s the first preseason game. The focus will obviously be more internally driven. We’ll figure it out at some point this week — we’ll turn the page at Indianapolis on Friday. So we’re still in this training camp (mod). We’re not working on the Colts right now. We’re just working on ourselves, and later in the week we’ll flip the script. Ultimately, you want to see clean execution. You want to see the fundamentals that I coached and then transferred to the field.”

If Nix wants to complete his ascension before the regular season begins, he’ll need to separate himself from Stidham even more in these August games. The former Oregon star has been as advertised so far and has even exceeded expectations.

So if the best predictor of the future is the past, then Broncos Country can rest assured that Nix is ​​on the right track.

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