Report Gives Broncos QB Zach Wilson a Boost Ahead of Free Agency

There's an intriguing question surrounding one Denver Broncos free agent on the doorstep of the 'legal tampering window' opening up. People wonder if quarterback Zach Wilson could be the next Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold — a highly drafted player who flamed out with his original team, only to find a career resurgence elsewhere.

Wilson was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, but the New York Jets traded him to the Broncos last year, where he went on to produce a modestly impressive preseason campaign, sticking on the roster as the third quarterback behind Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham.

The key to Wilson's free-agent outlook isn't what he did in the exhibition games last August; it's that he spent a year under the wing of Sean Payton. That alone could earn him a decent paycheck this spring with an opportunity to return to the starting ranks.

The MMQB's Albert Breer highlighted Wilson's outlook in his free agency preview.

"Teams will sniff around for the next version of Mayfield in 2023 or Darnold last year, so I’ll give you Denver’s Zach Wilson," Breer wrote. "A year under Sean Payton did him a lot of good, and the staff there really thinks, in the right situation, he could have a big bounceback year in ’25. His best bet might be to find a team with an iffy starter."

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If nothing else, Breer's words reveal that the Broncos aren't expecting to re-sign Wilson. As it stands, the only quarterback under contract in Denver is Nix, so the team will need to sign at least one plausible backup and at some point, a camp arm to help distribute reps.

“Both Zach and Jarrett are free agents, so obviously one of the ‘musts’—if a player is on our board, even if he was with us and is a free agent—both of those show up as orange tags," Payton said at the NFL Combine. "That is a ‘must’. We have to secure who the backup is. There are probably a few moving parts there, but I was real pleased with the room. Then, the uniqueness off the field with those guys getting along well. They really worked together well.”

The Broncos could look to re-up with Stidham, but like Wilson, he'll be looking to parlay his two-year stint as Payton's hand-picked guy into a bigger contract and role elsewhere. Still, he's Denver's best stop-gap option to support Nix.

It sounds like Payton has been privately working to boost Wilson's stock around the NFL. If not Payton, someone around Broncos HQ has been talking glowingly of Wilson to national media contacts.

There could be some truth to it. Wilson actually played a lot of football in New York with 33 career starts. Some would call it "bad experience," but he has a lot of live-bullet exposure, and if Payton truly rubbed off on him, there are teams with sub-par quarterback situations who could benefit from it.

With perhaps Russell Wilson as the only exception (although there is an argument even for him), every quarterback Payton has touched has seen his NFL profile elevated. Few of them have been able to sustain it outside the confines of Payton's coaching, but there's a reason NFL values quarterbacks who've played under him.

Wilson, and Stidham, are the latest. We'll find out soon what opportunities await them pair as the 'legal tampering window' opens on Monday, March 10, with the new league year officially kicking off two days later on March 12.

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