PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Broncos are back to a full quarterback room.

A source said Denver on Monday agreed to sign Sam Ehlinger to one-year contract. He is in line to be the third-string quarterback behind starter Bo Nix and backup Jarrett Stidham, replacing Zach Wilson, who signed with Miami.

It remains to be seen if the Broncos will keep two or three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster in 2025. However, at the very least they will have a third quarterback on the practice squad.

Ehlinger was a sixth-round pick by Indianapolis in 2021 and spent the past four seasons with the Colts. He has appeared in eight regular-season games, and has thrown for 573 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Ehlinger went 0-3 as a starter in 2022, the only starts of his career, and didn’t get into a game in 2024.

Nix started all 17 games last season as a rookie and Stidham was his backup, getting into three games but not throwing a pass. Stidham re-signed in early March.

“Obviously we’re excited that ‘Stiddy’ is back,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said earlier Monday at the NFL owners meetings at The Breakers resort. “He brings a veteran presence, but also a young presence about him. I know how he feels about his own abilities.”

Wilson spent all of last season on the 53-man roster as the third-stringer but wasn’t active for any games. Payton said it was “probably unrealistic” to think the Broncos could get back both Stidham and Wilson.

“I think the experience from Jarrett is helpful to Bo,” Payton said.

Leech cheers jersey vote

Broncos president Damani Leech applauded a vote by NFL owners allowing teams to wear alternate jerseys four times this season as opposed to the previous three.

“That will be great,’’ Leech said. “More opportunities to wear the throwbacks, but also more versatility with the helmets. So as an example, we could wear our white helmets with orange-on-orange pants and jerseys. So things like that will just add more flexibility to the closet and hopefully be exciting for the players but also for the fans.”

The Broncos wore 1977 throwback uniforms for two games last season and they proved to be very popular.

“Each team still is limited to four options in their closet: home, away, alternate and throwback,’’ Leech said. “So you still only get those. So our throwback is orange. So you’re limited in that. The issue is that you can now wear one of your alternates or throwbacks four times in the regular season versus the three and you have flexibility on the helmets.”

Broncos putting off extensions

General manager George Paton confirmed the Broncos will wait until after the April 24-26 draft before negotiating possible contract extensions. The Denver Gazette had reported that last week.

“Let’s get through the draft,’’ Paton said. “We’ll be open to conversations after the draft and into the summer and sometimes into the season as well.”

Players who could be in line for extensions include wide receiver Courtland Sutton, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, defensive ends Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach.

Sutton, displeased with his contract last year, sat out voluntary offseason drills until reporting for mandatory minicamp in June and Denver soon improved his deal. However, Payton expects that Sutton, who is under contract in 2025 for a nonguaranteed base salary of $13.5 million and seeks an extension, to be on hand for the April 21 start of offseason work.

“I’m excited that he’ll be there whenever we get going and we’ll go from there,’’ Payton said.

Helping out Mims

Payton is hopeful the new kickoff rule the NFL implemented last year will be tweaked by NFL owners, making touchbacks go to the 35-yard line rather than the 30. That could result in more attempts for All-Pro Marvin Mims Jr., who had just seven last season.

“We’re for it,’’ Payton said.

Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi said the rule change “would help” Mims.

“At the same time, having a guy back like there like that, if they kick a touchback and want to give us the ball, we’ll take that, too,” Rizzi said.

Touting Denver

On the heels of the Broncos having signed some top free agents, Payton dubbed Denver an ideal destination.

“We’re a team players want to play for,’’ he said. “I think certainly we’re a city that that’s very appealing to athletes to want to live.”

Payton said the Denver area also has proven popular to the many current players who have spent the offseason working out at Broncos Park.

“We have a lot of players who are already back lifting and working out which is great, especially this time of the year,’’ he said. “There are some cities that the offseason is more challenging relative to attendance. Fortunately for us, that’s not a big challenge for us. I think players generally want to train in altitude and at our facilities.”

Payton said one reason for players sticking around has been statistics that show the limited amount of injuries the Broncos have had in his two seasons on the job. He said that’s been “easy to sell.”

Nix in the community

Broncos owner Greg Penner likes how quarterback Bo Nix has gotten out and about in the Denver area.

“It was fun to see him at the Nuggets game and an Avalanche game in the same weekend (last month),’’ Penner said. “I think that’s great for him, just for the fans to see him out and about in the community and (he is) starting to get involved in some community efforts. I know he did some hospital visits and he’s going to be hosting a youth camp.’’

Penner said nothing Nix does off the field affects his football work.

“He’s totally focused on football and understands there’s some other things that go with it,’’ Penner said. “He’s a worker and going to continue to improve.”

Briefly

Paton stressed the importance of re-signing nose tackle D.J. Jones, who got a three-year, $39 million deal. “We think that D.J. is one of the better noses in the league, so why wouldn’t we bring him back?’’ he said. … Paton was impressed with improvement made last year by rookie cornerback Kris Abrams-Drain, a fifth-round pick. “He was probably the rookie that we felt was furthest behind after (spring drills),’’ Paton said. “Then we got into training camp and he kept making plays.”