Sean Payton Changes Mind on Playing Starters in Preseason Game 2

The Mile High Faithful will have to wait until Week 1 to get a full look at the 2025 version of Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos starters.

Dec 2, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) huddles with teammates in the second half against the Cleveland Browns at Empower Field at Mile High. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

In back-to-back weeks, the Denver Broncos held joint practice sessions with outside teams ahead of their respective preseason games. Last week, it was a physical and intense Thursday joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers, followed by the game on Saturday, and the same will hold true this week vs. the Arizona Cardinals.

The Broncos practiced vs. the Cardinals on Thursday, and in the wake of all those quality reps, head coaches Sean Payton and Jonathan Gannon have opted not to play starters in Saturday's game.

“I haven’t done this before. I haven’t had two joint practices before," Payton said after Thursday's practice with the Cardinals. "So neither Jonathan Gannon or myself are going to play the ones. There’ll be a few, there are five, six players that are on an eight-play pitch count that we consider ones, but maybe lack of reps or for whatever reason."

.@BoNix10 🤝 @K1 pic.twitter.com/qJSVy7HoJb

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 14, 2025

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The joint practices in consecutive weeks is a new thing for Payton and the Broncos. Holding one joint practice per preseason has been the norm, and it's unclear why Denver opted to do two of them this year.

But Payton isn't interested in tempting fate after his first-teamers garnered plenty of good reps vs. the 49ers and Cardinals back-to-back. Fans might see some starters, but it's mostly going to be the second and third-team units in front of the Mile High Faithful on Saturday.

"So we’re going to feature really two phases. The twos, and when I say the twos don’t read into— basically, there’s going to be a group in the first half and a group in the second half. Your frontline, O-line, D-line, quarterback, corner, I’m going to sit those guys only because of the uniqueness of two of these in a week’s timeframe. And then next week I’m going to play those guys eight to 10 plays and get them out. So I kind of have a plan as to how they’ll play in New Orleans, but that’s what you can expect going into this game.”

No Bo Nix, or Courtland Sutton, Garett Bolles, Patrick Surtain II, Dre Greenlaw, or other starters. It's a bit of a disappointment to fans, mostly because it comes as a surprise. But in the long run, it's a smart call, because, when it comes to the starters, the preseason is about building the callus, and getting acclimated to NFL speed, intensity, and physicality against outside competition and within the strictures of the offensive and defensive schemes.

Nix and the first-team offense played three possessions in Game 1 and it might be the last time we see them on the grid-iron until Week 1 vs. the Tennessee Titans. If so, don't worry about the starters not being ready or honed for the regular season.

Nathaniel Hackett rested the Broncos' starters in 2022, throughout the entire preseason, and the team paid for it in multiple ways come the regular season, finishing as one of the NFL's most snake-bitten teams. Payton played his starters in Game 1 last week, and they've gotten some great reps in against outside opponents in two joint practices.

The Broncos will be good to go in Week 1. That's the priority.