However is Payton simply being bombastic? Stidham, who has performed for Denver for 3 seasons, final began in the course of the 2023 season whereas changing a benched Russell Wilson. The 29-year-old QB went 1-1 in two begins, finishing 40-of-66 passes for 496 yards, two landing passes and one interception. He hasn’t thrown a cross in a regular-season sport since then.
2019 fourth-round decide Stidham, nonetheless, began his profession with the New England Patriots, the place he realized below former HC Invoice Belichick and present offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Curiously, he additionally hung out with Brady, which he seen as extraordinarily helpful.
“It was priceless,” Stidham told ESPN’s Mike Reiss in January 2020. “He is an outstanding teammate, an outstanding individual, clearly an outstanding participant. There was simply a lot I received to be taught from him. He was clearly very open to me about stuff that he is thought in regards to the sport of soccer and stuff like that.”
Stidham — a former Auburn Tigers star — by no means turned Brady’s successor, however McDaniels introduced him to the Las Vegas Raiders in his second stint as a HC. He spent one season in Vegas earlier than leaving for Denver. That season, he began two video games instead of a benched Derek Carr, going 0-2, throwing for 656 yards, 4 TD passes and three picks.
Stidham’s background with the Patriots and McDaniels has impressed Payton and is one cause he is stored him in Denver.
“I understand how he was coached in New England,” Payton stated. “I do know precisely how he was coached in New England, after which I understand how McDaniels felt about him when he introduced him from New England to Las Vegas.”
Payton added backup QBs have received Tremendous Bowls, together with Nick Foles with the Philadelphia Eagles in the course of the 2017 season. Foles, nonetheless, tried 101 passes within the common season that 12 months. Stidham will not be as contemporary, making it even tougher for him to show his coach’s claims.
