Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Having SURPRISE QB2 Competition in 2026

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos are going to have a QB2 competition in 2026. And maybe we'll see the team throw a dart at the position in the 2026 NFL draft. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. We went from Stitty City to quarterback two competition pretty fast in Broncos country. Welcome in Broncos fans. So thankful that you're listening to the show today. My name is Sarah Bedinger, co-host here of Lockdown Broncos, as well as the site expert at predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:00:41 And on today's bonus episode of the show, we're going to be talking about maybe some late round quarterbacks the Denver Broncos could be considering in the 2026. And the reason why they might be considering that, which is Sean Peyton bringing up the idea that the team could have a quarterback to competition in 2026. Thanks so much for making us part of your day every single day. All you every day is out there, mile high. I salute to every single one of you. We appreciate you so much for tuning in all throughout the offseason and every day of the year. You know there's never an off season here at Locked on Broncos. And you know what?

Starting point is 00:01:15 Sean Payton had a ton of interesting comments to talk about at the annual NFL owners meetings right before the Broncos dive deep into their NFL draft meetings. And one of the things that Sean brought up was the idea of a quarterback to competition. Of course, the Broncos have three quarterbacks on the roster right now, Bo Nicks, the unquestioned starter and franchise quarterback, as well as Jared Stidham and Sam Ellinger. Now, Stidham and Ellinger are both set to be free agents after the 2026 season. And those two guys are counting a pretty substantial amount against the Broncos salary cap, at least as far as the backup quarterback position is concerned.

Starting point is 00:01:53 The Broncos have an $8 million cap hit for Jarrett Stidom. And then Sam Ellinger signed this offseason with a $2 million cap hit. So combined 10 million invested in those two guys. And maybe the catalyst for this is the Broncos feeling like Sam Ellinger gives them an opportunity to really keep the ship afloat at a significantly lower price than Jared Stidham. Now, Sean Payton, the organization, the teammates, everybody rallied around Jared Stidham ahead of that AFC championship game. And justifiably so, right? When you're trying to win a huge game like that, you're not going to sit there and dog the guy, you know, as your backup. quarterback. But at the same time, Jared, you know, he showed a lot of things in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:02:37 He showed a lot of things early on in that game against the Patriots. And then, you know, it just kind of went off the rails. One bad play sort of led to another in that AFC championship game. And I'm not saying the Broncos would want to move on from Stidham because of the AFC championship game. But I do think that that situation is proof that, man, that backup quarterback position, if you have somebody that you even are remotely thinking, hey, this guy's pretty close to the quarterback three is pretty close to quarterback two. You might consider making that switch to quarterback three as the permanent quarterback two, right? When all things are considered equal, Sam Ellinger costing a lot less on your salary cap, only one million and guaranteed money, obviously a fit for the organization

Starting point is 00:03:20 did a lot of favors, quite frankly, for the Broncos last year by sticking around, shuffling up and down off the practice squad. And Jared stood up. is kind of in a situation right now where he might get an opportunity to start elsewhere. I think that you might have to wait until training camp and preseason games to sort of see how things play out for this type of situation because right now it's not like teams are breaking down the Broncos front door trying to get Jared Stidham off of their roster. But that could happen during camp. That could happen during the preseason.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And the fact that the Broncos are making it known that there's a quarterback to competition is interesting because Sean Payton kind of tried to say like it's no different than last year, right? Well, the only difference last year is that I don't think any of us remembers hearing about Sam Ellinger coming in and getting quarterback two reps. I don't think that was ever really the case. Maybe during the 2024 off season when we saw Stidham getting starting reps, we saw Zach Wilson getting starting reps along with Bo Nix as they're kind of trying to sort out that whole competition there, it was really different in 2020. 25, right? It was the clear pecking order. So, and money talks, right? Because Jared Stidham signed a two-year

Starting point is 00:04:33 deal worth 12 million in total money last off season. And Ellinger came in and he signed a pretty modest contract, right? So when you look at the money, you look at the financials, it really didn't indicate that the Broncos were having a quarterback two competition last year. And that was really something that Sean Payton brought up this off season. And it's a new thing. It's not, I mean, yeah, I don't know every single practice rep that the Broncos had throughout the course of last season or training camp. But I reached out and found out that no, I mean, from what was visible to the media in attendance, I mean, there were no quarterback two reps really given to Sam Ellinger last year. So it's an interesting revelation by Sean Payton that ultimately leads me to believe that the Broncos are going to be actively looking for ways to get Jarrett Stidham an opportunity to maybe play this kind of.

Starting point is 00:05:27 coming season as he's set to hit free agency in 2027 and is already 30 years old this coming season. So it's going to be one of those deals that Broncos might benefit by getting a draft pick. They certainly would benefit by getting salary cap relief. What specifically kind of salary cap relief would they get? If they cut or trade Jared Stidham, it's a little bit different. So cutting him now or even post June 1, they would save $4.5 million on the salary cap. And if they trade him now or after June 1, they would save $6.5 million on the salary cap. So a pretty decent chunk of savings there. If you cut or trade Jarrett Sidham.

Starting point is 00:06:07 Now, you want to make sure you have your quarterback two spot solidified and your quarterback three spot solidified because the Broncos do keep three quarterbacks, whether it's on the active roster or whether it's on the practice squad. This year's draft class could play a role in filling out this quarterback room. The Broncos have had some interesting pre-drafts. bath visits with a few sleepers at the quarterback position. We're going to talk about that coming up on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel.

Starting point is 00:06:38 The tournament is here. It's one of the best times of year. Brackets, getting busted, it's okay. Buzzer beaters. I mean, who watched that Yukon? Those crazy stuff. It's nonstop action from tip to the final cutdown of the nets. And right now, Fan Duel is giving new customers away to stay in the action all tournament long.

Starting point is 00:06:58 And here's the best part. You get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. That means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament. You can mix it up however you want with game picks, futures, or even same game parlays for bigger potential payouts. It's perfect for the tournament because every day there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, and more ways to get involved as the bracket unfolds.

Starting point is 00:07:24 So visit fandual.com to sign up today. That's fandual. to get in on the action. Today's show is also brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market.

Starting point is 00:07:45 You can buy or sell your positions live all game long and use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when the momentum shifts, you can be able to. move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now, I can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You're no longer just a spectator, play by play, you decide. Trade every play with Robin Hood. Now available across the U.S.

Starting point is 00:08:14 Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures in cleared swaps, trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. The Bronco. The Bronco are looking at some potential late round gems in the NFL draft at the quarterback position. We took a look in one of our late mock drafts about, hey, could the Broncos go after Iowa quarterback Mark Grinowski? I find that interesting as an Iowa guy, but there's other names out there that this team could consider as a potential quarterback three or quarterback four for the offseason program and kind of see what happens. We're going to break down some of those options who the team

Starting point is 00:08:55 is looking at in terms of pre-draft visits on today's episode locked on at Broncos right here on the Lockdown podcast network the number one sports podcast network let's get into talking about some of these twenty six draft prospects at the quarterback position and i feel like the broncos looking at twenty 26 prospects getting some pre-draft visits or zoom calls with some of these guys is as much of an exercise for new quarterbacks coach logan kilgore as it is for the team kind of getting to know these qb prospects because now you've just promoted somebody we know davis web handled a lot of these pre-draft quarterback interviews in the past when he was the quarterbacks coach.

Starting point is 00:09:32 So the Broncos like to get these guys feet wet doing this regardless and just helping the team evaluate at the position. So I think it's as much of an exercise for QB coach Logan Kilgore as it is anybody else. But you also have to consider the fact two quarterbacks hitting free agency after the season. You want to be prepared in the event that you have to replace one or both of those guys. So quarterback three or quarterback four, even for the offseason program being on the table

Starting point is 00:09:56 is not a surprise. The Broncos have three players so far. that they've had some serious contact with, not just meeting up with a guy at the Combine, not just meeting up with a guy at an All-Star game, but actual pre-draft meetings, whether Zoom or otherwise, and you're going to have to stick with me, okay?

Starting point is 00:10:12 You're going to have to bear with me on the first one, okay? This guy, the Rutgers starting quarterback, might have the most difficult name to pronounce in this entire draft. First name, I can do it, Ethan, right? And it's spelled Aethon, but it's actually pronounced Ethan, but the last name is we're going to have to bear with me, Broncos Country. Kaleek Manis, okay?

Starting point is 00:10:31 I'm going to, that's what I'm going to say. I'm going to say it with confidence. If you say difficult words to pronounce with confidence, I mean, you can convince a lot of people. But Ethan Kaleik Manis, the starting quarterback at Rutgers. If I pronounce that right, you got to give me a shout out in the comments section. If I pronounce it wrong, you got to roast me as well. But look, I think that this is a really interesting name for what he did at Minnesota,

Starting point is 00:10:54 the first couple years of his collegiate career, 40 plus starts, really improved this past season. at Rutgers. And when I look up some of his stuff, from what experts are saying, it seems like he showed a lot of strides, taking his arm talent, and really honing that, really raining that in this past season. His completion rate jumped from just under 54% in 2024 to 62.2% in 2025. So making some big strides there. Really interesting. He's had a number of other pre-draft visits with teams. So I think that he'll be one of those names late in the day three stages that teams are looking at and saying, hey, this is a guy that could be an asset to our

Starting point is 00:11:34 quarterback room. But if you want to go even deeper sleepers than that, a couple of other prospects the Broncos have taken a look at at the quarterback position, Derek Robertson of Monmouth, an FCS program. And then we have another guy who's maybe one of the more interesting QB sleepers in this class, Jack Strand. Here's what I like about Jack Strand for the Broncos context. He's somebody who played at Division 2, MSU Moorhead, 6-5, 240 pounds. Luca Evans reported that the Broncos had a pre-draft Zoom meeting with Jack Strand. And he threw 42 touchdowns last season, 3,500 yards, 42 touchdown passes. And what people say about him is, man, he's got a big time arm.

Starting point is 00:12:17 He can throw from any arm angle. He sort of got that baller mentality to him. So the Broncos taking a look at some late round sleepers. What does that mean? well, it might ultimately mean nothing. They might not even end up drafting a quarterback. I think they will at least sign one as an undrafted player. But if the Broncos keep their three seventh round picks that they currently have,

Starting point is 00:12:38 why not throw one of those at the quarterback position, right? I mean, it really doesn't hurt your team at all. You might be able to sneak that guy onto the practice squad. If you do have one quarterback that you like more than others, don't risk letting another team get him by letting him go to undrafted free agency, unless you already have a deal in place. And we know those things are happening all throughout the course of the last, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:00 a couple rounds of the draft. So it's just going to be interesting to see what the Broncos end up doing. All three of those quarterbacks have interesting arm talent. They all have, you know, good production, but at obviously different levels of the college game. And so you want to trust your quarterback developers. You want to trust your QB brain trust. And I love that the Broncos can bring in young guys and really bank on that

Starting point is 00:13:21 and really feel good about how they develop quarterbacks. especially because of the way that we've seen Bo Nix progress. And not everybody is a first round player like Bo Nix, but if you can develop those late round guys into assets for your QB room, quarterback two candidates, quarterback three candidates. It's really valuable in today's NFL. So Broncos competition at QB2, what do you think of that? Broncos country?

Starting point is 00:13:44 Let me know, let us know. What do you think about the team potentially using one of its seven draft picks at the quarterback position? I find it interesting. And I always love the sleepers at the position. Get those guys that might have a little extra chip on their shoulder. And you never know. I mean, Broncos took a seventh round flyer on Trevor Simeon once upon a time.

Starting point is 00:14:02 He's been in the league now for over a decade. So if you find guys that you feel are valuable, take a shot on them on day three of the draft. But Broncos Country, I appreciate you tuning in today. And every single day, we'll catch you on the next episode of the show.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Having SURPRISE QB2 Competition in 2026

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.