Broncos to keep same cadence during QB battle

Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior WriterAug 2, 2024, 04:14 PM ET
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton has consistently said no matter who wins the team’s quarterback competition some things in the offense will be tailored for that player, but he also wants all three of the quarterbacks to do at least one thing exactly the same: The cadence to get the snap.

“We’re trying to create that same beat with three different players, we’re making a big point of it,” Payton said after Friday’s practice. “It becomes difficult for the offensive line if the one beat is a little slower or the one beat is a little faster. It’s not a rhythmic cadence and yet there’s a flow to it, so, how do we make it sound the same.”

During practices this week the Broncos have begun to set up a speaker behind the team’s three quarterbacks — Jarrett Stidham, Bo Nix and Zach Wilson — as they go through individual drills early in each practice. Usually, the three quarterbacks each take a snap at the same time and go through a dropback together.

With the speaker in use, one quarterback will do the cadence for all three and all of the centers will then snap the ball as each quarterback goes through a dropback. After each play, the cadence is played back for the quarterbacks so they can hear for themselves if they kept it similar to the others each time.

Payton said if his team has a long-term starter at quarterback, as he did with Drew Brees in Payton’s long tenure in New Orleans, the goal was for the backups to try to handle the cadence the same way as Brees — that “whoever is playing quarterback, you know, let’s try to resemble how it sounds with Brees.”

But because Payton hasn’t named a starter for the Broncos and none of the three, other than Stidham’s two starts to close out the 2023 season, has been the unquestioned starter, he wants to make sure each of the three sound as closely to the others as possible.

“We’re trying to create that same beat with three different players, we’re making a big point of it,” Payton said. “It becomes difficult for the offensive line if the one beat is a little slower or the one beat is a little faster. It’s not a rhythmic cadence and yet there’s a flow to it so how do we make it sound the same. It’s easy when your clear-cut starter is the X … so that’s become a point of emphasis.”