“To me, personally, it speaks about the rich getting richer, and (everyone else) has to absorb the cost of everything,” Hayes sighed when I reached her by phone on Monday. “Honestly, I don’t know how you get around that.”

Mary is a Josh Allen gal in Bo Nix territory, a Bills Mafia transplant, a Rochester, N.Y., native who’s lived in Boulder County for eight or nine years now. When she hears talk about the Burnham Yard stadium site and the Walton-Penner Group, or when folks start whispering about “Personal Seat Licenses,” or PSLs, in Denver, she circles back to her ex-father-in-law.

Almost every adult Broncomaniac has met somebody like Mike from upstate New York at some point. He had Bills season tickets for five decades. He was a combat veteran who served in Vietnam, was awarded a Purple Heart, and became a true Don of Bills Mafia. Now in his 70s, Mike recently elected to give up his tickets rather than pony up for a PSL — a fee paid by customers of some NFL franchises to gain the right to purchase season tickets. In essence, it’s a cover charge for a cover charge.

Major pro franchises that agree to foot the bill for privately financed stadiums these days often seek to defray at least some of those costs by adding PSL fees to their customers’ bills. The Walton-Penner Group is working on a privately financed stadium and entertainment district for the Burnham Yard area near I-25, with an estimated $4 billion price tag. It’s not hard to do the math on the possibility of PSLs landing here.

The Bills announced last December that it had sold out its PSLs — reportedly more than 53,000 —  The average annual cost of a PSL at its new Highmark Stadium ranged from a reported $750 to $50,000 per seat, depending on location. Just to give you a ballpark figure, literally, of what might be coming down the pike for ¶¶Òőapountry. And why she thinks of Mike.

“And those are the people who are behind the scenes, with personal stories,” Hayes continued. “Growing up a Bills fan, to me, that was all about family. I remember watching games with my dad on the couch on Sunday afternoons. And him taking us to games that we could afford … it’s just become this thing, now, where that (tradition) is getting lost in everything. To me, that’s the heart of being a Bills fan or a Broncos fan, is generational memories. And its connection.

“Those were the people that want it and need it the most, that are struggling to make ends meet every day. And now you’re taking away the one thing that they look forward to year-round.”

That one thing — the Broncos — is more than a line item on a tax return. It’s fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. It’s woven into the fabric, baked in the blood. It’s passed on, like a grandfather clock, from generation to generation.

“But we’re winning now,” chuckled Lori Hosmer of Rochester, N.Y., child of two massive Bills fans “We have to pay up. If you want Josh Allen, you’ve got to pay Josh Allen. If you want James Cook, you’ve got to pay James Cook.”

The Bills are not a perfect comp, granted. For one thing, the new Highmark is jointly funded by public and private sources, with at least $850 million coming from New York taxpayers. For another, the Bills’ home upgrade is estimated to feature about 10,000 fewer seats (62,000) than the current version’s reported 71,608. Empower Field features a capacity of 76,125 for football.

But in terms of passion, devotion, organization, loyalty, national presence and a blue-collar ethos, ¶¶Òőapountry and the Mafia are cousins cut from the same AFL cloth. And the ones in upstate New York have some advice for Denverites on the fabric of PSL life:

1. Do your homework

If you treat PSLs sales like Black Friday at Walmart and storm through the doors at midnight, you might get your bank account trampled, Hosmer noted. Have a plan.

“Understand what your budget is before you walk in, so you don’t get excited about the hype,” she said. “Your experience depends on who your rep is … we had some (fans) who felt very pressured (initially).”

Hosmer’s old seats were above one of the Bills’ tunnel entrances, but that section wasn’t offered to her in the new Highmark.

“It’s a very good idea to have written down what you can actually want to afford and what you can afford, and what you actually want to spend on (seats),” Hosmer said, “before going forward. It’s a big commitment. It’s easy to get caught up in that (sales pitch).

“Our rep said, ‘Guys, no pressure, but all these other people are going to have a chance to (have these seats) the next couple weeks, I’m not sure where you’ll land.'”

2. Be patient and prepared to change seats

Hosmer described the PSL selection and confirmation process as “very long” and “very confusing, because you had no idea when you’d be called … that was just an odd thing.”

Another layer of odd? Her PSL ‘rep’ was not the same person as her season-ticket rep.

“My understanding is that every team does it how they want to do it,” she stressed, “but (Buffalo) was not based on seniority, because seniority didn’t matter. People spending the most money got first dibs. That makes sense. It’s a business.”

While preaching patience, Hosmer also would advise Broncos fans to “be prepared to change seats.”

“Someone who was sitting next to me (for years) was like, ‘I’m not paying $2,500, I’m not paying $3,000 (for this),’ so he ended up in a different (section),” she said. “He said, ‘I wanted to be in the new stadium, but it was too much of a (financial) ask. It was just too much.'”

3. Brace for sticker shock

Hosmer’s end-zone seats cost $450 a head in 2010. The ones she’ll be getting this fall landed at $1,895 — and that’s before parking.

“If (a Broncos fan) is not sure (about a purchase), you make sure you find out before you sign any paperwork,” she said. “People in our group were really mad to find out afterwards, after we signed our (contract), that the Bills were actually going to go in and out at the end of the half and at the end of the game by their bench and not by (the end zone).”

The community hand-wringing picked up when the Bills began charging $8,000-$50,000 annually per patron on PSLs for club seats. Late last year, Bills ownership introduced a $1,000 PSL cost for an upper-deck seat, and some higher-up end zone seats were offered at a three-figure level — $500-750 per patron.

In all cases, Hosmer said, financing options were made available, “so it’s not killer .. you have to have a credit card, you have to put down a deposit.”

She recalled being offered a six-year plan to pay off her PSL at an interest rate of around 8.7%. Hosmer was also told she couldn’t sell her PSLs until at least a year after its purchase, and that there were restrictions as to how those licenses could be resold, and to whom.

“I’ve heard fans complain about the (lack of stadium giveaways and bobbleheads) here,” she said, “and I’m like, ‘You don’t get that, but you get Victory Mondays.’ Take your pick. Do you want cheap sunglasses, or do you want AFC Championships? I know what I’m choosing. Every time.”

When general manager George Paton met the media on Monday at the NFL owners meetings, he provided an interesting nugget about Nix and the acquisition of receiver Jaylen Waddle.

“I wasn’t with him when he found out, but he was pretty excited when I walked down to the training room. He obviously went to dinner with all of us. I think Bo thinks he is a quasi-GM sometimes,” Paton said. “Sometimes he is right, and sometimes he is wrong, but I think he’s right on this guy. This guy is pretty special.”

So, too, is Nix. The Broncos know this. A transition is happening right before our eyes. Nix’s stature in the organization is growing, a testament to his maturity and remarkable first two seasons.

Reticent to question anything from coach Sean Payton as a rookie, Nix began voicing his opinion about preferring uptempo last season. He also has no issue screaming at Payton over slow substitutions, something that played out on a weekly basis.

And the offseason has only amplified his gravitas.

He cemented every belief about his character by the way he tackled his ankle rehab, and showed his growth by speaking up about Waddle. Write it off as him having a strong opinion because he played against the receiver at Alabama in the Iron Bowl if you must.

In my belief, there is more to it than that.

Folks in charge want to know what Nix thinks. And we would be foolish to believe that Nix did not welcome Davis Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator with anything but open arms. He became close to Webb over his first two seasons, his development progressing rapidly under the quarterback coach.

Webb had leverage this offseason as a hot head coaching candidate. There was no reason for him to stay without being given some play-calling duties. Payton reluctantly relinquished the role — don’t blame him, since he remains good at dialing up gems. And in case you didn’t hear, it was — all together now — his decision.

But there is no way this change happens without Payton, Paton or owner Greg Penner — or some combination thereof — having a conversation with Nix.

This is how the NFL works. As a rookie, it was Nix’s time. Last season, it was his team. In his third season, he will become the face of the Broncos, a role filled by Payton since 2023, as he navigated a hairpin U-turn.

Nix should be coming off a third straight playoff berth and in line for a $50 to $60-million a year contract. That kind of deal comes with perks, spoken or not.

We have seen this evolution with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. They were all rookies once. Now, you can’t mention their team without thinking of them.

Nix is quickly ascending into this role. The good news? He gets it. He knows the Spider-Man principle — with great power comes great responsibility.

The star franchise quarterback is the answer to every question. And he is both the excuse and the target of criticism when expectations are not met. It all comes with it, especially when the salary matches a gross national product.

Since being drafted, Nix has passed every test. If he reaches his potential next year with a Super Bowl berth, it will be obvious that he is the fulcrum on which the organization pivots.

Avs sweaters: The Avs are in position to clinch the NHL’s best record. It is not because of a certain sweater. Best line seen on this: The Avs are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. The Quebec Nordiques are the favorites for the top draft pick. Time to stop wearing the blue jerseys.

Go-Go Rox: Adding Jake McCarthy and Willi Castro has given the Rockies a throttle. They had 10 stolen bases through six games. They posted 87 last season. The Rockies have no plans to stop running. “It’s how we are going to play,” outfielder Mickey Moniak said. Coors Field awards more than power. Nice to see a front office recognize this.

Curry worked as New Orleans’ wide receivers coach from 2018-20 under Payton and then served as the Saints’ quarterbacks coach for Payton’s last year with the club in 2021. He then spent two more years in New Orleans before becoming Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach in Buffalo for the past two seasons.

In those years, Allen has played some of his best football, including an MVP year in 2024.

Earlier this offseason, Curry interviewed for Denver’s offensive coordinator job, which ultimately went to Davis Webb.

Now he’s returning to Payton’s staff to coach receivers again, this time in Denver.

Payton fired receivers coach Keary Colbert after the season and, though he hasn’t spoken with reporters since that move was made, he outlined disappointment with the manner in which the Broncos’ pass-catchers played during the 2025 season.

“We’ve drafted to (the position) and I like who we’ve drafted to it,” Payton said last month. “Yes, there were too many drops, even down the stretch. The thing with the draft, man, we’ve invested, and I like the players in that room. We’ve got different (skill sets). We have speed, we have size, we have all the things I’m used to and that you’d want to have in a good offense.

“But I think that there’s a proper way to catch a football and most of the time, it’s with your thumbs together. Not the other way around.”

Among the other contenders who drew consideration for the job, a source with knowledge of the situation said, was Broncos offensive quality control coach Favian Upshaw, a young coach whom Payton and Denver are high on.

Payton also appears likely to find a place on his staff for John Morton, who served in 2023-24 as passing game coordinator before leaving to be Detroit¶¶Òőap offensive coordinator last year. He was fired in January and then did some consulting work with the Broncos during their postseason run.

Denver and New England’s whiteout matchup in the AFC Championship in 2025, though, brought back several degrees of recent history. Back to the days of Brady, and Peyton Manning, and the last time the stands at Empower Field rocked as loudly as they did this winter. Back to a Broncos group that knew quite well, as ex-Denver running back C.J. Anderson recalled, who they’d have to go through in the AFC to get to a Lombardi Trophy.

“It¶¶Òőap interesting to see like — it¶¶Òőap them two at the top of the apex,” Anderson told The Denver Post this week. “I think for us, it was like, we knew that we were going to run into Ben (Roethlisberger). Or we were going to run into Brady.”

History has repeated itself, a decade later. These Broncos have thrust their Super Bowl window wide open after a 2025 season where they came three points and a blizzard away from a trip to the Super Bowl last Sunday. They built a team to climb over the Chiefs and the Patrick Mahomes hump. They built a team to climb over the Bills and the Josh Allen hump.

Now, though, they’ll have to build for a future where they can topple the Patriots, a similarly young team that also employs a culture-changing head coach and a second-year quarterback still on his rookie deal.

“Denver’s a great team,” Patriots receiver Trent Sherfield said, sitting at his locker Sunday after New England’s loss to Seattle in the Super Bowl. “This team’s a great team. Like, you’re in the first year of a rebuild, and you get to the Super Bowl.”

“So,” Sherfield continued, “it’s gon’ be real competitive.”

Sherfield, of course, saw both franchises’ ascent firsthand in 2025, after spending half the year as the Broncos’ fifth wide receiver and the end of the season on New England’s practice squad. He sees a future where Denver and New England — who both went 14-3 in 2025 — will have to go through each other, once again. And where quarterbacks Bo Nix and Drake Maye go head-to-head across the future playoff runs.

“I think Bo’s arm talent, being able to run the ball, extend plays, turn a bad play into a good one — I think they have a lot in common,” Sherfield said. “I feel like that¶¶Òőap gonna be, probably, an AFC Championship for a couple of years. Kinda like how Patrick Mahomes is always in it.I think that those two will be going at each other for a long time.”

Of course, the two quarterbacks have yet to actually face off in their NFL careers, after Nix’s fractured ankle heard ’round the world. And several Broncos made it quite publicly known that they believed they should’ve been in the Bay Area if a couple of factors had broken differently, as the Seahawks  dominated the Patriots from kickoff to triple zeroes in a 29-13 win.

“This game is making me even more sick to my stomach that we lost,” safety P.J. Locke . “‘Cry me a river?’ Yes I am! Lol.”

Maye struggled mightily throughout the Patriots’ playoff run after an MVP runner-up regular season, posting an expected-points-added mark of -41.2 in the postseason — worst of any playoff quarterback, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Still, New England enters the offseason with just six players set to hit unrestricted free agency and an enviable $41 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap. Several key pieces beyond Maye, like left tackle Will Campbell and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, are also still on rookie deals.

For years, in general manager George Paton’s five-year Broncos tenure, Denver has structured its rebuild in part around toppling the Chiefs and Mahomes in the AFC West. The Broncos’ wild-card loss to the Bills and Allen in 2024, meanwhile, served as a direct wake-up call for areas of roster need.

Count New England and Maye, now, as the next conference foe that Denver will have to account for across the next few months.

“I would say that the league is in good hands,” Sherfield said.

Head coach Sean Payton officially hired Webb as Denver’s next offensive coordinator, the team announced Monday afternoon. The move comes less than a week after Payton fired offensive coordinator and longtime loyalist Joe Lombardi, setting in motion an offseason of offensive staff changes.

Denver also promoted offensive quality control coach Logan Kilgore to quarterbacks coach.

For weeks, it seemed Webb could have been heading for new pastures. The fast-rising Broncos quarterbacks coach was connected to the Las Vegas Raiders’ head-coaching job since Denver’s playoff bye week in early January, and emerged as a finalist this past week after meeting with them in person Jan. 26. Broncos second-year quarterback Bo Nix even acknowledged as much in an end-of-season conference call with reporters Wednesday.

“I think highly of him,” Nix said on Wednesday. “I know he’s a really good football coach. And I know he’s got a lot in store for him in the future — don’t know what it looks like, a lot of speculation. You never know until it happens.

“But for him, say he was a head coach in the division, I’d enjoy beating his butt two times a year.”

That’s no longer a concern, as the 31-year-old Webb will continue to work hand-in-hand with Nix in Denver. And Webb’s promotion hints he could take over play-calling duties, which would stand as an unprecedented move in Payton’s 18-year career since being named the head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 2006.

A source with knowledge of the situation told The Denver Post that there’s nothing in Webb’s OC deal that stipulates he’ll take over play-calling duties from Payton, and staff haven’t made a concrete decision if he’ll actually assume that role. But Webb had standing interest from the New York Giants, Baltimore and Philadelphia for their respective offensive-coordinator positions and play-calling duties, leaving little reason he’d stay on the Broncos’ staff for a simple title change.

When asked about Las Vegas’s interest in Webb last week, too, Nix discussed Denver having a “play-caller” — but didn’t specifically mention Payton.

“I know everything is all going to work out,” Nix said on Wednesday. “The season’s going to get here. We’re going to have an OC, we’re going to have a play-caller, we’re going to have our team. And we’re going to go out and try to beat our opponents.

“But just me speaking on him, he’s an awesome coach, going to be an awesome — in whatever role he’s in, he’s going to do great things.”

In October, Payton was asked on a conference call if he’d considered transferring play-calling duties — even for a brief period — to another member of his staff.

“I think we’re comfortable as an offensive staff of how we’re operating,” Payton said.

But after a season of inconsistent offense in Denver (14th in the NFL in points in the regular season), Payton has been particularly introspective in recent weeks. He cautioned himself against getting too conservative as a play-caller before Denver’s divisional win against Buffalo. He immediately allowed for self-second-guessing after a failed fourth-down call in the Broncos’ AFC title-game loss to the Patriots. Payton said Tuesday that “those are the moments you wish you had back,” although he deflected any notion he felt pressure for the call.

“I don’t pay attention to all the criticism,” Payton said. “I think if I paid attention to that, I don’t know that we’d ever be in this position.”

Hours later, though, the first domino fell in an early offseason of rapid staff changes for the Broncos. Payton fired Lombardi on Tuesday, after Lombardi had served for three years as Denver’s offensive coordinator and served under Payton as an assistant for 11 previous years in New Orleans. Payton also fired receivers coach Keary Colbert. Then, on Friday, Pete Carmichael — a senior offensive assistant in Denver who’d been Payton’s offensive coordinator for 12 years in New Orleans — left the Broncos for the Bills’ offensive-coordinator job.

With the Raiders closing in on Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Webb pulled himself out of the running for the Raiders’ head coach job. Denver interviewed Buffalo quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry and Commanders passing-game coordinator Brian Johnson in compliance with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, but were always centered on Webb as a top candidate.

Webb, who has never before called plays in an NFL regular-season game, was hired in 2023 as Payton’s quarterbacks coach immediately after a six-year NFL career as a backup QB. In August, though, he sparked buzz in assuming play-calling duties for the Broncos’ 27-7 preseason win over the Cardinals.

“I had thrown a couple of call sheets or stat sheets from my first time and highlighted a few things and said, ‘See if you can beat this,’” Payton said after that game.

“And he did.”

Webb drew such rave reviews for his work in the Denver quarterbacks room that No. 3 quarterback Sam Ehlinger turned down multiple other contract offers throughout the season in part to continue developing under Webb.

Webb has spent time around a series of terrific quarterbacks and unique offensive minds, from backing up Patrick Mahomes in college at Texas Tech to backing up Eli Manning and Josh Allen in the NFL. He’s learned from Air Raid evangelist Kliff Kingsbury to a West Coast-rooted, old-school program in Payton.

Asked about Webb’s ability to lead a locker room as a head coach, Ehlinger said he recognizes Webb has never coached a bigger group than a quarterback room, but didn’t think leading a larger organization would be an issue.

“Any time you’re the quarterback of a large college program and you also get meaningful snaps with an NFL organization, you’re in a position of leadership whether you like it or not,” Ehlinger said. “So he definitely has experience from a leadership standpoint in a locker room with football players and organizations. As a coach, he’s been leading our room. So he’s developed skills there, too.”

He’ll now experience a dosage of it in Denver as Payton’s OC, Webb’s latest endorsement in a rapid ascent.

Ehlinger said he, like many around the league, is interested to see what Webb’s style as a play-caller looks like in regular season games, whenever that time arrives.

“You kind of have to be in that situation when the pressure is on and the bullets are flying to really develop that signature,” Ehlinger said. “I think he’ll have a unique mix of kind of new-school, Air Raid, attacking style. But also be able to balance the run game with all that he’s learned here from Sean and his experience in Buffalo. I’m curious to see what that becomes.”

Kilgore spent the past three seasons with the Broncos in an offensive quality control role, but Payton and the Broncos have been bullish on his talent. The 35-year-old worked primarily with tight ends and returners in his previous role, but played quarterback in college at Middle Tennessee State. Then he spent an offseason with Payton in New Orleans as an undrafted free agent before getting into coaching. Kilgore was coaching tight ends at Arkansas State when Payton was hired as Denver’s coach in early 2023 and called him to join the staff.

Moving him up from a QC job to being the day-to-day man in front of Nix is a big affirmation from Payton and a major step up for Kilgore.

Kilgore and Webb together are central parts of a revamped, substantially younger offensive meeting room around Payton.

Not Davis Webb, however.

The Bills and new head coach Joe Brady are hiring Denver senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael as offensive coordinator, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Friday morning.

Carmichael was head coach Sean Payton’s offensive coordinator for nearly his entire tenure in New Orleans and has spent the past two seasons as a senior offensive assistant in Denver.

Brady, who was promoted to head coach Tuesday, spent 2017-18 working as an offensive assistant under Payton and Carmichael in New Orleans before going to LSU for one prolific year and then jumping back to the NFL.

Carmichael is the fourth assistant coach to depart the Broncos’ staff this offseason, receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch earlier this week.

Perhaps more important, there is an apparent changing of the guard underway on the offensive side of the coaching staff.

Carmichael and Lombardi have a combined 30-plus years of experience working for Payton and have been stalwart presences on his coaching staffs.

Payton’s 20th year as a head coach in 2026 sets up to be the first he’s ever had without either Carmichael or Lombardi on his staff and the sixth without both. Payton has not coached a season with somebody other than Carmichael or Lombardi as his offensive coordinator since 2008.

The veteran head coach could hire familiar people in their places still, but regardless of who ends up in what positions, Payton is going to have a different set of voices around him in the Broncos’ offensive meeting room going forward.

He seemed to be interested or at least willing to entertain that idea after the season as he lamented some of the issues that unit, for which he leads the game planning and calls the plays, had over the course of the 2025 season.

Webb remains a central figure in the picture. He withdrew Thursday from the Las Vegas head coaching process and now will be a popular figure for offensive coordinator openings across football.

As jobs begin to fill — particularly in Buffalo, perhaps, which Webb has called his favorite place he played and where he has a very close relationship with quarterback Josh Allen — the possibility that he returns to Denver and is promoted to offensive coordinator appears to be growing.

Denver has requested and interviewed Buffalo quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry for its coordinator job, multiple sources confirmed to The Post, .

Curry, 46, has a long history with Broncos head coach Sean Payton.

In those years, Allen has played some of his best football, including an MVP year in 2024.

Curry interviewed for the Broncos offensive coordinator job, too, when Payton was first hired in Denver. That job ultimately went to Joe Lombardi, who spent three years in the role before Payton fired him Tuesday.

Broncos quarterbacks coach and offensive passing game coordinator Davis Webb is a prominent figure in the search for a coordinator. He is a strong candidate for the job, but he also remains in the mix to land the head coaching job in Las Vegas. Webb, 31, is in what looks like a small group of remaining contenders there, along with Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

The Broncos will also interview additional candidates for the job, which could include further internal options.

Those could include offensive line coach and run game coordinator Zach Strief or his longtime offensive coordinator in New Orleans and current Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael.

Payton reportedly had interest in Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady before Brady was promoted to head coach earlier this week. He told reporters in Denver on Tuesday that he had “hired him right out of college. So I’m proud of him and just spoke to him two days ago.”

Before the Broncos and Bills’ playoff game, Payton mentioned the number of connections he had to the offensive coaches on Buffalo’s staff, which, of course, included Curry.

“They’re very well coached,” Payton said earlier this month. “Three or four of the offensive coaches were on my staff in New Orleans that are there now and doing a great job.”

The Denver quarterbacks coach had a pair of head coaching interviews lined up for Monday, an initial conversation with Buffalo and a second interview with Las Vegas, sources confirmed to The Post.

Webb, 31, met with the Bills virtually earlier in the day, that team confirmed, and then was slated to travel to Las Vegas to meet in person with the Raiders, according to a source.

Monday was the first day either of those was possible following Denver’s 10-7 AFC Championship Game loss to New England on Sunday.

Webb had already met virtually with the Raiders while Buffalo’s job came open after the club fired Sean McDermott following a 33-30 loss to the Broncos in the wild-card round. Webb getting a second interview with the Raiders signals he’s in the mix for the job there.

He’s got a long history, also, with Bills star quarterback Josh Allen. In fact, he told The Post a year ago that he considers Allen his best friend.

“I love Buffalo, it¶¶Òőap my favorite place I’ve ever played,” Webb said in January 2024. “Not even close. My favorite teams were in Buffalo. My best friend is the starting quarterback over there. Sean McDermott offered me the quarterback coach job when I was playing.

“Like, there’s a lot of friends, memories and moments there that will never leave me.”

This year, he oversaw a quarterbacks room featuring Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger in Denver.

Ehlinger said Webb was one of the biggest reasons he was drawn to Denver and then stayed even when he had a chance to return to Indianapolis’ 53-man roster after Daniel Jones got hurt there.

“It¶¶Òőap a unique combination of experience from a player standpoint as well as football IQ and understanding of the game,” Ehlinger said Monday. “You see a lot of these young playcallers get opportunities to become head coaches because they’re that good at calling plays. And Davis is a little unique in that he hasn’t called plays for a regular-season game, but I think the way he can speak football, obviously the room he’s created here the last few years.

“And then Bo’s development, I think people see the way he’s taught him the NFL game and obviously Bo’s had success early in his career.”

Webb is in demand. If he doesn’t get one of the four remaining head coaching jobs, he’ll almost certainly be widely requested as an offensive coordinator candidate.

“It¶¶Òőap a unique combination of, he played, he was held in very high regard when he was a player with different coaching staffs,” Ehlinger said. “He’s developed a really good reputation and he’s just a really smart football coach.”

Broncos sign six to futures deals. Denver did some offseason housekeeping Monday, signing six of its practice squad players to futures deals.

The list: ILB Levelle Bailey, TE Caleb Lohner, DL Jordan Miller, RB Cody Schrader, OL Calvin Throckmorton and RB Deuce Vaughn.

Bailey and Throckmorton appeared in games this fall for Denver, while Lohner was the team’s seventh-round pick in last April’s draft but spent all of his rookie year on the practice squad.

Futures contracts keep practice squad players under team control until the 2026 league year begins. Then they again become part of the 90-man offseason roster.

Denver will likely sign more players to futures deals in the coming days.

It wasn’t.

Instead, the offseason arrives in bitter fashion.

Here are 7 thoughts on Denver’s final game of the 2025 season.

1. The Broncos could not have asked for a better start to Jarrett Stidham’s first start in two years, and that means this one will sting even more.

The gut reaction was to doubt.

The football world wondered.

Sean Payton, a week ago, said, “Just watch.”

He expressed steadfast confidence in his backup quarterback, Jarrett Stidham, for a week after his starter, Bo Nix, fractured a bone in his right ankle last weekend against Buffalo.

That confidence was about Stidham and about the rest of the Broncos’ ability to navigate a game — two, Payton figured — without Nix.

And, boy, did Denver have a golden opportunity to do just that.

Everything Payton could have asked for, the Broncos delivered early in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

The defense came out humming.

Stidham hit Marvin Mims Jr. for 52 yards on Denver’s second drive to help settle the nerves, then Courtland Sutton for a 6-yard touchdown on a beauty of a bootleg to the right.

The Broncos punted on their third drive, but dominated the field position game early. They started their first four drives at an average of their own 35.5. New England’s first four drive averaged their own 19.

When Stidham and the Broncos started moving the ball on Drive No. 4, it felt like everything was falling into place perfectly.

He hit tight end Evan Engram for the opening first down of the drive. Then Lil’Jordan Humphrey on a well-timed out-breaker to convert a third-and-3.

In all, the Broncos ran 10 plays. None of them went for more than 7 yards, but, critically, they all resulted in positive progress.

Denver looked poised to go 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-snow all the way to the Super Bowl.

Payton, too, in those first 20 or so minutes, called a terrific game. He got Stidham in enough of a rhythm and kept him enough out of harm’s way.

Stidham flirted with negative plays a couple of times early, but overall, he did what he needed to do.

Then, he came up a football short of a first down on a third-and-6 scramble and everything changed.

Payton decided to keep his offense on the field and go for it rather than kick a 31-yard field goal attempt that, given the still-docile weather, was a gimme for Wil Lutz.

A 10-point lead was good, Payton figured, but he felt like Denver had momentum and that 14 might be insurmountable.

Of course, that all backfired. Payton had a “nickel run” called, he said after the game, but then he called a timeout. He called a boot to the right instead, but the Patriots got immediate pressure, RJ Harvey had no space in the flat and Denver turned it over on downs.

The Broncos did not score again, and Stidham was not the same the rest of the way.

Before the fourth-and-1 play, Stidham was 7-of-11 for 79 yards and a touchdown. After, he went 10-of-20 for 54 yards and an interception.

“I know this. I’m going to look at it and be critical of myself,” Payton said of Stidham’s day and his offense’s outing in general.

Stidham’s big mistake came on Denver’s next offensive drive, but the Broncos shouldn’t have been working with that slim a margin in the first place.

If you’d have told Payton before the game that Stidham would throw an early touchdown and that his defense would allow 206 total yards, 12 first downs and go 10 of 12 drives, giving up one or zero first downs, he’d have asked which hotel the Broncos were staying at for Super Bowl week.

From the moment Payton found out Nix broke his ankle and was done for the season, he authored a masterclass in leadership that ran one week, one quarter and change. It put the Broncos in prime position to do what most around the league figured they couldn’t: Win an AFC title without their quarterback.

That it fell apart — and that he didn’t take a different course ahead of the snow that arrived during halftime when Denver was in advantageous position — won’t quite stack up to his worst lightning bolt postseason heartbreaks like the Minneapolis Miracle and the no-call pass interference. But it will certainly cause some restless nights over the coming days and weeks.

“There are always regrets,” he said. “I mean,  look, I felt like here we are, fourth-and-1. We felt it was close enough that — and it is also a call you make based on the team you’re playing and what you’re watching on the other side of the ball. There will always be second thoughts.”

That call will lead the pack from this game, but more broadly, the overall inability to capitalize when, considering the week Denver had in the wake of Nix’s injury, the opening stanza of the game went so perfectly is going to hurt.

2. Just that fast, the offseason arrives and the Broncos have a clear need — which Payton alluded to after the game.

Payton and general manager George Paton have been bullish on Denver’s receiving group for two years. They love running back RJ Harvey’s potential and the rookie showed more flashes Sunday in a physical game.

Overall, though, Denver lacks juice among its offensive playmakers.

“There were a number of things that we just had to do better,” Payton said Sunday. “We didn’t finish some runs and we dropped some passes. Again, felt like that was a problem all year.”

Evan Engram had the best season for a Broncos tight end in years and it was still underwhelming at 40 catches and 461 yards. The rest of Denver’s tight ends combined for 258 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Troy Franklin’s season stat line — 65 catches for 706 yards and six TDs — will say Year 2 breakout, but it¶¶Òőap fair to wonder if he is a true No. 2 receiver at this point or if Courtland Sutton is a true No. 1.

Harvey is not a finished product by any stretch and Denver just didn’t get a ton of production from the other backs besides J.K. Dobbins on the roster.

The Broncos need to likely add at all three positions this offseason but they need a top-flight receiver and a difference-making tight end, perhaps more than any other element on what is a deep and solid returning roster.

Look at the barnburner of an NFC Championship Game in Seattle that followed Sunday’s tilt in Denver. The Los Angeles Rams rolled out Puka Nacua and Davante Adams at receiver, three quality tight ends and running back Kyren Williams. Seattle plays Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp at receiver and, when healthy, a dynamic running back duo in Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.

Denver has to find more explosiveness in those positions, but likely will have to do so without breaking the bank. First, there may not be true top-flight talent to hit the free agent market other than perhaps Kyle Pitts, the tantalizing 25-year-old tight end who finally put together a big year in Atlanta in his contract season.

Plus, Denver will be drafting at No. 30. The Broncos will have to find talent without the benefit of a high draft pick and they have other areas they could address early in the draft, too.

3. One potential in-house solution to the issue: The guy who seems to make plays every time he gets an opportunity.

If the Broncos’ offensive coaching staff makes one vow when it turns its attention to the 2026 season over the coming weeks, how about this: Play Marvin Mims Jr. more than half of offensive snaps and see what happens.

Mims got more opportunities in the postseason because of injuries to Franklin and rookie Pat Bryant and he made the most of them.

STIDHAM GOING DEEP TO MARVIN MIMS JR.

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The third-year man had 37 catches (51 targets) for 377 yards and a touchdown in the regular season and then 12 catches (14 targets) for 155 yards and a touchdown in a pair of playoff games. He also drew the game-clinching, 30-yard pass interference penalty against Buffalo.

Sunday, he made Denver’s biggest offensive play when he ran past star cornerback Christian Gonzalez for a 52-yard gain. He might have made another big play in the first half had Stidham not zinged a well-set-up screen too wide for him in the right flat.

More broadly, Mims seems to find a way to make plays every time he gets a chance. He just doesn’t get a ton of chances.

Payton and Paton traded up for him late in the second round and made him the first draft pick of Payton’s tenure here.

In Mims’ first three seasons, though, he’s not seen more than 52 targets or played more than 34% of the Broncos’ offensive snaps.

Now he heads into the final year of his rookie deal at a crossroads. Is he a punt return specialist capable of making a big play here and there in the passing game? Or is he, despite being relatively small, a guy who can be a real, explosive, foundational piece of an offense into the future with Nix?

If this postseason was any indication, the Broncos should at least get him involved enough in 2026 to find out.

4. While we’re transitioning to offseason mode, it will be interesting to see just how much continuity the Broncos end up with defensively

The single biggest piece of that puzzle, of course, is Joseph and whether he lands a head coaching job. Either way, a strong core is set to return for the Broncos.

Perhaps the biggest player question is if Denver gets a long-term deal done with nickel Ja’Quan McMillian. He’s turned himself into one of the very best in the business and he’s just a restricted free agent, so Denver has control of his rights.

What a play in OT by Ja'Quan McMillian

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— NFL (@NFL)

Will the Broncos bother putting a second or even a first-round tender on him? Remember, teams can put those tenders on RFAs and it gives them the right of first refusal to match any deal another team offers the player, plus a draft pick equal to the tender. So the Broncos can protect McMillian with a high-round tender. That will also mean giving him a one-year deal with a decent cap number — at $7.83 million and $5.66 million, respectively. Denver could sign McMillian to a top-of-the-market long-term deal for a slot man and do better than that as it pertains to cap hits.

But, also, the Broncos just drafted Jahdae Barron in April and he didn’t play much because of McMillian. So, where does it go from here? Does Barron move outside and compete with Moss? Do the Broncos entertain trading McMillian, who is exactly the kind of player they’ve sought out over the past three years?

Other curiosities: What happens at inside linebacker and if the plan is as straightforward as it looks on the defensive line?

Start at linebacker. The Broncos signed Dre Greenlaw to a three-year deal in March because they felt like they needed to upgrade over Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad.

Greenlaw showed playmaking ability but also struggled to stay on the field, first with recurring quad injuries and then later in the season with a hamstring. He provided forceful play in run support but was not the coverage asset he made himself earlier in his career. Then again, Joseph didn’t put Greenlaw in a ton of passing situations because of the rate at which the Broncos deployed their nickel and dime packages, combined with wanting Singleton on the field at all times.

Greenlaw’s contract was structured as essentially a one-year deal, a move that felt prudent at the time and has aged well given the ‘backer’s durability issues. Denver can save $6 million on its 2026 cap while incurring about $4.3 million in dead cap charges by releasing Greenlaw, or it can retain him at a $10.4 million cap charge for 2026 the season.

Singleton and Strnad are each impending free agents and each could well command solid starting money. Will Denver be willing to give the 32-year-old Singleton, say, three years and $30 million to keep him from testing the market? Strnad could be in a similar range, given the year he had and that he’s three years younger than Singleton.

The Broncos don’t have surefire replacements in younger players, but they have seen promising signs from undrafted rookie Jordan Turner, got a solid camp from Levelle Bailey and have what amounts to a lottery ticket in the oft-injured Drew Sanders. A lot to sort through for the Broncos and their staff. If Joseph gets a head coaching job, he may well want Singleton — whom he’s been highly complimentary of throughout his time in Denver — or Strnad to come with him to help put together his next unit, too.

On the defensive line, Franklin-Myers is ticketed for free agency and should command a lucrative deal after a 7.5-sack season. One executive told The Post it wouldn’t surprise if Franklin-Myers’ market started at $15 million per year and potentially pushed up from there. Some believe he’ll be the best pass-rushing defensive lineman available in free agency.

Last year this time, it looked like D.J. Jones would hit the market, too, but the Broncos decided at the last minute to pony up and keep him. Not as likely this year with Franklin-Myers, but nothing is certain until March.

Denver looks poised to give his snaps to Eyioma Uwazurike and potentially Sai’Vion Jones.

All the same, put both defensive line and inside linebacker on the list of positions the Broncos could address with their first pick in the draft.

5. The coaching carousel is about to start spinning again and Denver’s staff figures to continue being popular

Now that the Broncos are eliminated, their coaches can not only conduct in-person, second-round interviews with any team that still has an opening, but they can also interview with teams whose openings didn’t come up until after the wild-card weekend — Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

The biggest names to watch on the head coaching front are defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb. Four teams still have coaching openings in Las Vegas, Arizona, Cleveland and Buffalo.

Joseph worked for Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill for four years as defensive coordinator from 2019-22. Webb is seen nationally as a strong candidate for the Raiders job and has described Bills quarterback Josh Allen as “my best friend.” He spent three years in Buffalo as Allen’s backup and said it¶¶Òőap his favorite place he ever played.

Webb just turned 31 this week, but his star is rising fast.

“I think he’s going to be a really good head coach and I think a really smart organization would hire him,” Broncos quarterback Sam Ehlinger told The Post recently.

Webb has impressed Ehlinger all season and was a big part of the reason Ehlinger turned down a chance at returning to Indianapolis after Daniel Jones’ injury there.

He said this week was just another example of Webb’s teaching prowess when Stidham was thrust into the starting role for the AFC title game.

“Davis has stayed the same throughout the season,” Ehlinger said. “He coaches us all individually throughout the season. So nothing really changes. He’s always asking whoever it is. If you sat in the QB room with us, you would never know who the starter is. He’s always asking questions to other guys and making sure other guys are prepared as well.”

Joseph finished his third season as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator with a flourish and should have suitors, though the pool is shrinking quickly.

Does he think the Cardinals are a good fit for him, given an overall poor roster and an unclear path forward at quarterback with Kyler Murray a candidate to be traded this offseason? Does Buffalo have interest after firing a defensive-minded head coach in Sean McDermott? Who wants the Browns’ job?

The answers to those questions should start coming relatively quickly now that Denver is out.

Meanwhile, the coordinator landscape has changed quite a bit for hopefuls like Denver secondary coach Jim Leonhard in recent days. On Sunday alone, Green Bay and the New York Giants filled their defensive coordinator spots. Those two seemed like natural candidates for Leonhard because he grew up in Wisconsin — and turned down the Packers defensive coordinator job in 2021 — and because he played for new Giants coach John Harbaugh in 2008. Leonhard also interviewed in Dallas but the Cowboys hired former Broncos secondary coach Christian Parker.

The New York Jets are still in the market, as could be the Broncos if Joseph gets a job. There are likely other possibilities as well. Plus, Denver has other young assistants who could be in line for promotions or jobs elsewhere over the next couple of weeks, including offensive quality control coach Logan Kilgore, outside linebackers coach Isaac Shewmaker, cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch, running backs coach Lou Ayeni and more.

6. Another item on the Broncos’ offseason to-do list: Extend general manager George Paton

Pretty simple here. Paton signed a six-year contract when he was first hired in 2021, meaning the 2026 season would be the last on his original deal.

After early failures like trading for and extending quarterback Russell Wilson and hiring Nathaniel Hackett, Paton has not only steadied the ship, but he’s made a terrific pair with Payton and has turned the Broncos’ roster from light on talent to one of the deepest in football.

“I’d heard so many good things about him prior to meeting him and then when I met him that day we interviewed, I found him to be just like what everyone had described,” Payton said of Paton earlier this month. “I can’t speak for him, but I really enjoy working with him. We both are passionate about the same things. I think he likes that I love scouting, and I like that he comes from a coach’s family. 
 We come from a lot of similar backgrounds. I enjoy him and you have to because you spend so much time together, but it¶¶Òőap probably one of the more undervalued aspects.

“Find me the head coach and GM tied at the hip, and then you have a chance. I feel like he and I have an extremely close relationship, trust, but also we see things in a similar fashion.”

¶¶ÒőapEO and owner Greg Penner has repeatedly expressed confidence in Paton and, considering the club appears to have a long-term solution at quarterback and is coming off an AFC title game appearance, there shouldn’t be much to consider here.

Payton’s through three seasons on a five-year deal, so perhaps the only call to make is if Penner wants to extend them in tandem or tackle Paton this offseason and Payton a year from now.

Regardless, Denver looks like it¶¶Òőap in position to have stability atop its football operation for years to come.

7a. A couple of more game-specific items to close this thing out

Denver engineered a touchdown on its second offensive possession of the game thanks to a 52-yard completion from Stidham to Mims Jr. After that, though, Stidham and the Broncos offense could not find any kind of rhythm. They came up empty on 10 straight possessions after the touchdown, including five punts, a turnover on downs, two missed field goals just before halftime and a Stidham interception in the fourth quarter. Most critical was Stidham’s fumble in the second quarter that set the Patriots up at Denver’s 12-yard line. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye finished that drive off with a 6-yard touchdown run. That sequence was part of the reason the Broncos allowed just 72 yards and four first downs in the first half and yet found themselves tied at 7 going into intermission.

7b. Payton lamented after the game that his team didn’t run the football better.

“I was frustrated,” he said. “I felt like we’d be able to run the ball more consistently. I thought that was going to be important. We felt like we had one of our better run plans going in.”

Instead, New England stymied Denver’s ground game from the start. The Broncos ran 24 times for just 79 yards and did not have a rushing play go for more than 9. They averaged 3.3 per carry for the game and 3.0 over two postseason games. Those marks sting all the more considering they may well have had Dobbins back in uniform for the Super Bowl had they survived Sunday. Denver got just 93 postseason rushing yards from its running back trio of Harvey, Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie. Against New England, the team generated just two first downs on the ground. When the snow fell, the Broncos had little in the way of security on the ground.

Before Dobbins got hurt, Denver averaged 133.6 rushing yards per game and 4.9 per carry. Afterward, 96.5 and 3.7.

Again, it¶¶Òőap a position the Broncos will need to look at once again over the next couple of months.

7c. New England quarterback Drake Maye didn’t have a prolific outing passing, but he changed the game for the Patriots time and time again with his legs.

Maye ran seven times for 68 yards and a touchdown and almost every one of his carries did damage. The second-year Patriots quarterback generated either a touchdown or a first down on each of his first five carries of the game and six of seven overall.

First came a touchdown on a 6-yard quarterback draw. Then Maye picked up a third-and-15, a third-and-9 and a fourth-and-1, all with his legs.

He saved his best for last, beating Jonah Elliss to the edge on a game-deciding naked bootleg with less than two minutes to go. The No. 3 overall pick of the 2024 draft put together an MVP-caliber regular season by leading the NFL in completion percentage and throwing for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and just eight interceptions, but his ability to run the ball was an underrated element the entire time.

He had 450 yards and four touchdowns in the regular season and sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl with his legs, too.

7d. Thanks for reading this year.

We’ll have you covered from the locker room cleanout Monday, through the coaching carousel, the NFL Scouting Combine in February, to free agency in March, the draft in April and around the dial again when OTAs begin in May.

It¶¶Òőap been a heck of a season for this Broncos team and it¶¶Òőap been a privilege to bring you stories from a fascinating group. Let¶¶Òőap do it again.

Josh Bulla has known Stidham since elementary school in Stephensville, Texas, when a young Bulla first noticed the kid who was a foot taller than everyone else. From that point, Bulla said, Stidham always knew he was headed for some greater destiny. Milestones came and went: he played college football at Baylor and Auburn, where he was a two-year starter , and got drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2019. The final goal — become an NFL starting quarterback — came again on the night of Jan. 18, 2026.

Just not like this, Stidham told Bulla.

He’d gotten his chances before. Two starts in 2022, when the Raiders benched Derek Carr. Two starts in 2023, when the Broncos benched Russell Wilson. Those were exciting. But Bo Nix breaking his ankle Saturday night, as Stidham told Bulla, was “gutting.”

“The first thing that came to mind,” Stidham said, as Bulla recalled, “was, ‘No.'”

“Like, this is Bo’s show.”

Over the past two years, Bo and Izzy Nix have become “like family” to Stidham and his wife, Kennedy, Bulla said. Nix’s second-year run ended shockingly after a divisional-round win over the Bills, and the emotions Stidham felt extend much deeper than his mentorship in Denver. In Stidham’s two years starting at Auburn, from 2017-18, .

It began as simple program ambassadorship, then-Auburn OC Chip Lindsay remembered. Stidham would talk to Nix and host him on visits. Eventually, though, Stidham started asking Lindsay how Nix did in his high school games. He knew that Nix was his successor, former Auburn wideout Ryan Davis recalled.

“Jarrett was basically, like, giving him the keys,” Davis said.

Seven years later, Nix is giving them back. — Nix’s first public statement since breaking his ankle — the Broncos’ starting QB offered a hat-tip, saying he “couldn’t be more confident in Jarrett.” Denver’s season now lies in the hands of Stidham, a career backup who has started four career games in six NFL seasons and hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass in two years.

Across this week’s preparation for the Patriots in Sunday’s AFC championship, Denver’s locker room has heaped praise on Stidham to anyone with a microphone. They have no other choice.

“He’s going to rip it,” head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. “And that will be our approach.”

In Year 2 in Denver, Nix and Payton found synergy as the second-year quarterback praised Payton for letting him be his “authentic self.” These Broncos formed an identity around Nix, a fiery 25-year-old whose white-hot competitiveness fueled a season of second-half comebacks. They are now rallying around Stidham, a cool 29-year-old whose serenity masks his own fire.

Stidham has kept the same routine for three years in Denver, left tackle Garett Bolles said. He eats the same food. He drinks the same water. He hits the steam room at the same time. He listens to the same music, on a Turtlebox waterproof speaker that he affectionately refers to as “Mr. Turtle.”

Nothing has changed in this week of madness. Stidham is who he is because he knows who he is. That is comfort, as these Broncos head into a war.

“He got some swag,” Bolles said Thursday. “He got some swag to him. So, that fuels us all.”

…
In 2023, 6-foot-4 safety JL Skinner arrived in Denver as a raw sixth-round pick out of Boise State. He took plenty of flak from Stidham, who’d just signed as a free agent and who had no more experience in Denver than Skinner.

Stidham wanted Skinner to be better. And he let him know about it. The QB chirped at him in practice.

“JL, what are you doing? What are you doing?”

“I’m like, ‘Man, (expletive) this guy,'” Skinner said Thursday.

“And then in my head,I’m like, (expletive), he’s actually throwing that ball right over my head, too. I gotta do something about it.”

He was born with that. The now 6-foot-3 Stidham played offensive line in Pee Wee football in Weatherford, Texas, because he was tall. Future high school coach Joe Gillespie introduced him to former SMU quarterback Kelan Luker for some training in middle school. The first time Luker worked with Stidham, he walked out to a field, saw him throw a few balls, and noticed the kid never missed.

Stidham had never played quarterback before. To this day, Luker maintains he never really taught him anything over the course of a few years.

“I think what really happened – he was so talented, he could just watch what I did,” Luker said, “and he could imitate.”

In Denver, QB3-turned-QB2 Sam Ehlinger notes that Stidham’s ball “spins really pretty.” The RPMs came naturally. So did unassuming athleticism, a trait that most every teammate or coach notes about Stidham.  Underneath six years of backup life in the NFL is years of life as a five-star gem, the No. 1-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2015 (above Kyler Murray, Sam Bradford and Joe Burrow).

“He’s just one of those West Texas boys who grew up spinnin’ it,” said Jordan Palmer, a former NFL quarterback who’s long worked with Stidham and .

After two years at Auburn, Stidham arrived in New England in 2019. It was Tom Brady’s last year; the Patriots were treating Stidham as “the next guy,” as Davis said, a former Auburn receiver who spent six months in New England’s training camp in 2019. Stidham picked Brady’s brain, and Brady once left three of his custom hoodies as a gift in Stidham’s locker. But the Patriots brought in former MVP Cam Newton two weeks before training camp the next year in 2020, and drafted Mac Jones in the first round in 2021, and shipped Stidham to Las Vegas in 2022 without ever starting him in a game.

Old habits die hard, Bulla recalled. Stidham grew up as the guy. He never stopped believing he could be. After signing in Denver, he got a taste of it late in 2023, when the Broncos benched Wilson. He lost the starting job to rookie Nix in 2024. Bulla asked Stidham how he was feeling heading into training camp this past summer, wedged squarely behind a young franchise face.

“He’s like, ‘It¶¶Òőap the NFL,'” Bulla said . “‘Everyone’s talented. Crazy things can happen. And I still have to act the way I always have, and that I want to be the starter.'”

…
In December 2017, Carson Wentz tore his ACL, and the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles had to recalibrate around backup quarterback Nick Foles. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich set about watching the “Foles highlight reel,” as he dubbed it — cut-ups of every single Foles completion from five previous NFL seasons. He sat with Foles and had the quarterback walk him through some preferred concepts: a few post routes here, a deep ball there.

Outside the Xs and Os, though, Reich and the rest of the Eagles’ staff didn’t do much to try to control messaging to the team. They let Foles roam free as a personality. And Foles — whose confidence earned him a provocative — became legend across a Super Bowl run in the weeks to follow.

“If you’re trying to cover up what you perceive as some weakness, some leadership weakness of the backup quarterback, then you’re in trouble,” Reich said.

Reich, a former quarterback himself who once stepped in as a backup to Jim Kelly for multiple Buffalo Bills playoff runs in the 1990s, has taken an interest in Stidham’s particular situation in Denver. He’s watched clips of his interviews. He’s detected moxie.

“It seems like the kid’s a winner,” Reich said. “Like, he’s a winner. And everybody knows it.”

Emotion crested and fell in Denver in the span of a single hour after the Broncos’ 33-30 overtime win over Buffalo. Sean Payton went to a podium in street clothes, told reporters Nix was out for the season with a fractured ankle, and the Broncos’ locker room came away as stunned as the rest of the world. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi found out from his son, driving home from the stadium. Receiver Courtland Sutton literally didn’t believe it was true.

Utter chaos has swirled around Stidham in the days since. The Copelands were deep in the woods of West Texas on a hunting trip, cracking open a few Coors Originals and playing cards, when they got the news he was starting. Friends have let Stidham know they’ll make it to Denver in any way possible for Sunday’s game. An entire fanbase has turned its social-media avatars to pictures of Stidham in a strange form of solidarity. This shot is “everything he’s ever dreamed for,” Bulla said.

Stidham has yet to flinch, in public or private.

“Is he getting sleep this week? I don’t know,” said Brian Hoyer, a longtime NFL backup who was with Stidham in New England in 2020 and 2021. “I talked to him (Tuesday). And either it hasn’t hit him yet and he doesn’t have any words, or he hid it really well.”

There is a “calmness” about Stidham, Payton said on Wednesday. There always has been. The most worked-up Bulla has ever seen Stidham — in a circumstance not involving family or football — was when Bulla pranked Stidham in high school by hotwiring his beat-up 1995 Chevy Silverado and hiding it in a different parking lot. On-field mistakes have always brought the same reaction, Palmer described: Aw, shucks, and move on.

These days, Stidham carries that “Mr. Turtle” speaker into the team shower on the daily, blasting an assortment of Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac and country tunes. He has a rookie football card of cornerback Riley Moss pinned to the front of his locker, for some reason. He wore a full-body lion costume to the Broncos’ Halloween party in October.

“Every time I see him,” practice-squad receiver Elijah Moore said, “he’s playing music. I guess he’s just got the vibes on him. I love that.”

Stidham did not always present this way. Take it from Washington head coach Jedd Fisch, who coached New England’s quarterbacks in 2020.

“Really?” Fisch said, told the tale of Mr. Turtle. “He wasn’t like that. Yeah, I don’t remember. Maybe it¶¶Òőap because we were in the middle of COVID 
 I would not have guessed that one.”

The years have brought Stidham’s self-awareness outward, as he’s moved into a comfortable stage of life. Stidham and wife, Kennedy, welcomed their third child in October. When he and Bulla catch up these days, they spend roughly two minutes talking football and the rest figuring out “what the hell” to do in fatherhood, as Bulla put it.

“I see a direct correlation,” Palmer said. “When people have their personal lives figured out and then get put into the spotlight on a big stage, I see that go better for the guys that have their lives figured out …. I would say Jarrett’s about as stable as it gets, for a guy his age.

“There’s no reason to change,” Palmer continued. “There’s no reason to do it different. So I’m sure that Jarrett is going into this weekend with a lot of confidence that – he is enough.”

…
Sean Payton, Skinner said, does not keep “bums” on his roster. Backups. Practice squad. Doesn’t matter.

Stidham was one of Payton’s first signings upon arriving in Denver in 2023, even as the Broncos already had Wilson. The organization made it a priority to bring Stidham back this past free agency, on a two-year deal worth $12 million. The money signals trust around the league. Moore — a 25-year-old receiver who’s now been on four NFL teams — said he’s heard of Stidham’s reputation in the past, before signing with the Broncos a month ago.

“Stiddy got signed back-to-back-to-back for a long time now,” Skinner said at his locker Thursday. “And nobody knows why, from the outside. But we know why, from the inside. Because that mother(expletive) can throw that goddamn rock.”

Payton believes Stidham’s inside the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL. So does Patriots defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr, that Stidham “could be a starter for a number of teams.” Stidham’s arm talent and sneaky mobility aren’t in question: quietly, he ran for a combined 84 yards in two starts for the Raiders in 2022.

Sean Payton called Jarrett Stidham a "real good foot athlete" today. Of note: Stidham ran for a combined 84 yards in the first two starts of his career with Las Vegas in '22.

Here's a first-down scramble against a top defense in the 49ers in '22. Plus a ball-flick celebration.

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans)

The major issue, heading into Sunday’s conference championship, is whether Stidham has enough between the ears to handle the “kitchen sink” that the Patriots’ defense throws at opposing quarterbacks, as Hoyer described. Under Kuhr, a swarming New England attack stumped Los Angeles’s Justin Herbert in the wild-card round and picked off Houston’s C.J. Stroud four times in the divisional round.

“They’re going to bring a lot of (expletive), and that¶¶Òőap where he has to rely on Sean Payton, and the preparation, and I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of checks and – ‘When you see this look, you gotta get into this play or change the protection,’” Hoyer said.

The counter-move is that New England has no shred of Broncos tape on hand to prepare for Stidham. So, how does Denver design a gameplan around him in the span of a week?

Payton has made clear he sees Nix and Stidham as two different styles of quarterbacks. Others disagree. Stidham spent much of 2020 with Fisch studying tape of Jared Goff, and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, and quarterbacks in West Coast systems with plenty of under-center looks. This Denver offense has shifted more in that direction across the second half of 2025, and Palmer and Hoyer don’t see Payton’s established system needing to change much from Nix to Stidham.

“When they can run the ball and throw the play-action game, he can reach anywhere on the field with the ball,” former Auburn OC Lindsey said. “And try to create some explosives off play-action – that would be the first thing that would come to my mind.”

On one hand, Stidham’s in a position where three weeks and a Super Bowl ring would forever change his life, Bulla said. On the other hand, friends and confidants don’t see Stidham stretching himself much for Sunday. Quarterbacks who finally receive their shot, as Palmer said, generally fall into one of two mental buckets. Some hope it’ll go well. Some think it should go well.

Stidham feels, Palmer said, that he should play well.

“When we win that game,” Skinner said, “what they gon’ say now? What they’ gon say now, you know what I mean. They gon’ say — ‘Stiddy this. Stiddy that.’

“Stiddy gon’ get a brand-new contract off this, bro,” he continued. “That¶¶Òőap how I’m looking at it, man. We riding out with Stiddy.”