Sean Payton leaves door wide open at key position in Broncos preseason loss

When a roster is as strong as the Denver Broncos is, there aren't many positions where jobs are on the line, and that's a good thing. Denver's roster is filled with high-end players and key depth, and while the team's preseason Week 2 loss against the Green Bay Packers didn't prove that, the Broncos had previously won their last eight preseason games.

With one preseason game remaining before the regular season, the Broncos have a chance to regroup and start a new win streak up. Preseason wins are nice, but they're far from being all that important, as the regular season is what matters, but being able to win games where backups are primarily playing is never a bad thing.

Speaking of backups, the Broncos still might have a key position battle brewing, and during media availability after the game, head coach Sean Payton really didn't put this battle to rest at all.

Denver Broncos may actually have a legitimate backup QB uncertainty brewing

Payton said the Broncos are "still working through it" when asked about the potential QB2 battle between Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger:

Stidham, after a very sharp preseason debut against the Atlanta Falcons, was anything but against the Packers, tossing a pretty horrific interception that most NFL defenders could make:

Stidham finished 9/15 for 82 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Stidham earned a 47.1 passer rating. What is quite interesting is that Ehlinger didn't check into the game until the fourth quarter, so Stidham did get a majority of the snaps at the position.

While Stidham, in the eyes of some, may still clearly be the QB2 of this team, Payton didn't make any guarantees in that above quote, and there is still one preseason game left for Ehlinger to perhaps prove himself to the coaches.

One thing that I personally wonder about with Stidham is the AFC Championship Game performance. While that was an impossibly tough situation to step up, Stidham just didn't do much of anything for the Broncos in that game, as it felt like, at times, Stidham had just been signed off the streets to start for the Broncos three days prior.

Ehlinger, if nothing else, is more of an athlete at the position, which is more in line with the type of quarterback Bo Nix is. Stidham also has an $8 million cap hit this season, and a post-June 1st trade of Stidham would save the Broncos $4.5 million on their cap.

The financial committment isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's not nothing, and if the younger Ehlinger plays better in the team's final preseason game, you have to wonder if this is genuinely a 'competition.' In an ideal world, the Broncos don't need their backup QB, but it was the case last year.

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