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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As the Denver Broncos continue to close in on naming a starting quarterback, rookie Bo Nix will get his most extended opportunity with the starting offense in Sunday’s home preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.
The Broncos and Packers held a joint practice Friday at the Broncos’ suburban complex south of Denver, with Nix working as the No. 1 quarterback most of the day. Coach Sean Payton has traditionally divided playing time in the preseason into “phases,” with Phase 1 being the game’s starters.
“I think we’re going to see Bo starting out in Phase1, [Jarrett Stidham] in Phase 2 and Zach [Wilson] in Phase 3,” Payton said after Friday’s practice.
Although Payton said last week that Nix would start against the Packers, it is a small departure from last Sunday’s preseason opener in Indianapolis, when Stidham opened the game against the Colts but exited after 12 plays. Nix then played some with the Broncos’ starters and stayed in the game with the second-team offense in his 39 plays.
This Sunday against the Packers, Nix is expected to get all of the snaps with the starting offense. Payton has said he might not play many starters in the preseason finale Aug. 26 against the Los Angeles Rams, so this could be the last outing for Nix and Stidham in their battle to be the starting quarterback.
Payton has consistently lauded Nix’s maturity and poise throughout the offseason and training camp. Nix was the 12th overall pick in April’s draft, the highest the Broncos had selected a quarterback since Jay Cutler (No. 11 in 2006).
Nix would also be the first rookie quarterback to open a season for Payton in his long tenure as a head coach.
Before this week, Nix and Stidham had largely divided the work equally with the starters in practices. It was Nix who took the majority of plays with the starters in this week’s practices, including Friday’s, when Stidham got just a smattering of plays with the starting offense in team drills.
Wilson had split time with the starters with the other two QBs throughout the offseason program, but Payton quickly trimmed the rotation from three down to two after the first week of training camp.
Nix said Friday that he had more than enough to worry about right now without adding any concern about exactly when Payton would make the call on a starter.
“I don’t know; you’ve got to control the things you can control,” Nix said. “There’s a lot of other things on my plate I’m going to worry about — whether to check a play, or kill a play, what shade to run to, what coverage they’re in, what blitz they’re bringing, what protection we’re in, so I’ve got to figure out all that before I worry about anything else. And so far I’ve been able to control it and keep things on the field and whatever happens, happens.”
“I’m not really worried about it, to be honest with you,” Stidham said. “Sean will make his decision when he deems it necessary. We’ve got a game Sunday, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
Payton said the Broncos will have several personnel meetings in the days after Sunday’s game to prepare to name starters and cut the roster to 53 players by the Aug. 27 deadline.
“Lot of players hit that wire … a lot happens and there’s a lot of evaluation going on,” Payton said. “I would say, right now, there’s nine or 10 spots we’re looking at, [general manager George Paton] is looking at, and we’re discussing. And there’s still a lot of time.”