When the Denver Broncos kick off their 65th season on Sept. 8 against the Seattle Seahawks, Bo Nix will be their starting quarterback.

Denver coach Sean Payton announced on Wednesday that the rookie had won the job in a competition with Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson.

“He’s been outstanding,” Payton said of Nix. “Obviously, there’s a ton of room for growth. There’s a lot of things that he needs to work on.”

Nix will become the first rookie to start Denver’s season-opening game since John Elway in 1983. Elway started for the Broncos for 16 seasons, led Denver to two Super Bowl victories and won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for the 1987 season on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Obviously, that’s great to share with such a great player like John Elway,” Nix said. “… But it doesn’t matter when your first start is. It doesn’t matter if you have to wait or if you go right now, you just want to go out there and get the first win and ultimately compete at a high level and give your team the best chance possible, so that’s what my goal is at the beginning – just to go out there and give our team the best chance to win games every week.”

Payton said Nix had earned “a confidence level” with his teammates.

“Everything in this league is earned,” Payton said, “and the minute there’s someone that has something that’s not earned that can affect and impact your locker room. It really can.”

Payton said the coaching staff had particularly liked Nix’s “off-schedule, movement throws, and I think he’s been consistent. And it’s not really a reflection on Jarrett or even Zach. It’s some of the things that he’s been able to do pretty quickly.”

In Denver’s 34-30 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the Broncos’ preseason opener on Aug. 12, Nix completed 15-of-21 passes for 125 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 17 yards on three carries. Nix produced two touchdowns and two field goals while on the field for five possessions. The lone possession with Nix at quarterback that did not end in points came when Denver lost a fumble after a completion.

In the Broncos’ 27-2 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in their second preseason game, Nix played the first two series and completed 8-of-9 passes for 80 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran three times for 12 yards. Denver scored on both series with Nix in the lineup, although the Broncos settled for a field goal on the first possession after Nix had a touchdown pass nullified for being past the line of scrimmage when he threw.

“It was really cool,” Nix said about learning of his new status. “It’s not every day to get that news, but, obviously, as a room, we’ve been working hard and putting a lot of good things on film and putting a lot of good things on the practice field, so to get that news is definitely a great, great, great thing, so I’m super excited.”

Nix joined Denver as the 12th player picked in the NFL Draft on April 25.

A former Auburn standout preparing for his sixth NFL season, Stidham served as Russell Wilson’s backup last season and started the Broncos’ final two games of 2023. Wilson was released during the offseason.

Zach Wilson came aboard in an offseason trade, available after 33 starts in three seasons with the New York Jets because of Aaron Rodgers’ return from injury for 2024.

“We wanted to let the thing play itself out,” Payton said. “And most of the time, when that happens, you arrive at the right decision, and I think anything earlier than that or prematurely than that, you run the risk of ‘Hey, wait a minute,’ so certainly you’re pleased to see where he’s at, but there’s a lot of room for growth here with this player.”

At Pinson Valley High School, Nix led the Indians to consecutive AHSAA Class 6A championships. Nix set AHSAA career records for yards of total offense and touchdown responsibility and was an All-State selection in 2017 and 2018. In his senior season, he also was selected as Alabama’s Mr. Football and the Class 6A Back of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

In his second season at Oregon after three seasons at Auburn, Nix finished third in the voting for the 2023 Heisman Trophy behind LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, who won the award, and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

During the 2023 season, Nix set an NCAA FBS single-season record by completing 77.45 percent of his passes as he established school records with 4,508 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes for Oregon.

With 16,965 yards of total offense in his career, Nix ranks second in NCAA FBS history. He also ranks second with 152 total touchdowns (113 passing, 38 rushing and one receiving), sixth with 15,352 passing yards and seventh with 1,286 completions.

During his three seasons at Auburn, Nix completed 628-of-1,057 passes for 7,251 yards with 39 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. In two seasons at Oregon, Nix competed 658-of-879 passes for 8,101 yards with 74 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.