The Denver Broncos returned to the practice field for the second week of OTAs on Thursday, and it was once again open to the media.
After one week of training, I wanted to observe if players who had performed well before still looked well. I wanted to examine if those who were underperforming could improve. I finally got some of those answers on Thursday.
Here are a few notes from Thursday’s practice.
Stidham is a good second-team quarterback.
For the second week in a row, Bo Nix worked with the first-team offence. Jarrett Stidham had another day working with the second team. Now, Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton rotates quarterbacks on a regular basis, thus Stidham will start every week with the first team. We can only rely on what we’ve seen because those sessions are closed to the media.
Stidham appears to be a capable second-team quarterback. Stidham is in his second year of the Payton system, giving him an advantage over youngster Nix and veteran Zach Wilson. Stidham could perform well, although he is working with and against the second team. How does he compare to better competition?
We’ve seen Stidham start, and the results haven’t been good. Last year, the Broncos’ quarterback started the final two games and struggled. This year, Stidham may open the season as the starter, despite the fact that Nix has performed well with the first team in recent weeks. All roads lead to Nix, and he’ll start eventually. I believe having Stidham as the No. 2 quarterback benefits Nix by pushing him for the starting position and teaching him when he is clearly the backup.
Javonte Williams looked better… Kind of.
Last week, Javonte Williams appeared to lack burst as a runner. Williams seems to have improved his burst this week. Williams took his time ramping up this week, but he appeared to have more burst during team drills.
Williams may never be the same as he was before the devastating knee injury that ruined his 2022 season. He’s certainly at the top of the depth chart, but nothing is certain in terms of the Broncos’ running back position. It’s simple to anticipate Williams as the starter this year, but he’ll be challenged by others on the roster, particularly newcomer Audric Estime.
Estime’s knee issue forced him to miss OTAs last week, which improves Williams’ cause. Payton provided an update on the rookie power back, and while the knee injury is not severe, it will keep Estime out of play until training camp. That provides the door for Williams to outperform Estime for the starting role if he can demonstrate his burst has returned. Perhaps Williams’ burst will improve as the offseason progresses.
A great debut.
We couldn’t watch rookie edge Jonah Elliss play last week since he was still recovering from shoulder surgery from previous year. Elliss made his first appearance on the field during team workouts during summer this week, and he looked terrific!
Elliss has several moves for getting after the passer, and a number of them were demonstrated during team exercises. There is no sacking the quarterback in practice, but Elliss was causing havoc – and he had several ‘would have been’ sacks on Thursday.
I admire his energy when chasing down plays that get away from him as well. Elliss is a formidable pass rusher, but he has demonstrated the ability to defend against the run. He also demonstrated the ability to chase down plays from behind. Overall, it was an excellent debut for the rookie. I look forward to seeing him on the field more frequently.
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