Jarrett Stidham didn’t throw a pass all season, but the backup quarterback got off to a strong start for the Broncos in place of injured starter Bo Nix in the AFC Championship game.
Stidham completed a 52-yard deep pass to Marvin Mims in the first quarter and then a 6-yard scoring strike to Courtland Sutton for an early 7-0 lead over the Patriots, his first NFL team.
Nix, a first-round draft pick in 2024, led the Broncos to an AFC-best 14-3 record and a 33-30 win over Buffalo last week in the divisional round of the playoffs.
But he suffered a broken ankle in the closing seconds, necessitating the need for the 29-year-old Stidham to make his first start of the year — with a Super Bowl appearance on the line.
“I say this respectfully and I told the team this, I said, ‘I’m not worried about Stiddy in this game. I’m worried about everyone else, and how we play.’ And that really is the truth,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said this week. “Stiddy will be ready to go.”
Stidham was a fourth-round pick by New England in 2019, and he appeared in eight games for the Pats in his first two NFL seasons.
He was traded to the Raiders in 2022, before signing with the Broncos as a free agent the following year.
