You want us to believe rookie quarterback Bo Nix is for real and these Broncos can make the playoffs?

Then be bold. Make a trade. Bring impact linebacker Ernest Jones IV to Denver.

After the Broncos crushed Arizona 38-12 on Sunday to finish the preseason undefeated, coach Sean Payton declared: “The make-up and chemistry of this team is entirely different from last year.”

Are the Broncos different enough to act like winners?

Go get Jones, a 24-year-old linebacker. He’s a top 30 linebacker in the league, if you believe the analysis of Pro Football Focus.

And if you watched the Rams beat Cincinnati in Super Bowl LVI, there’s ample evidence that Jones is not only a pad-thumping run-stopper, but an uncommonly destructive pass-rusher for an inside linebacker.

In response to his request for a raise from a relatively modest $3.1 million salary, the Rams told Jones he was free to seek a trade.

Yes, I realize inside linebackers aren’t the game-changers that edge rushers or shutdown corners can be. While Jones is effective on the blitz, pass coverage isn’t a strength in his skill set.

But the Broncos are weak at inside linebacker. While Alex Singleton is rock solid, Jonas Griffith still appears to be less than 100% in his recovery from a torn ACL suffered last summer.

When evaluating the performances of Griffith, Cody Barton and Levelle Bailey as candidates to replace the departed Josey Jewell at inside linebacker, Payton called them grinders that have experienced ups and downs.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The best friend to a rookie quarterback is a defense that can cover for his mistakes. So what could it hurt to inquire what it would take for Denver to acquire Jones, especially if the Broncos have a surplus of NFL quality quarterbacks, as Payton insists?

The truth is: Bad NFL teams try harder in August, in the hope that winning is somehow contagious.

But that’s seldom the case, because talent tends to win out from the season-opener through the Super Bowl.

The Broncos went 3-0 against Indianapolis, Green Bay and Arizona.

In the Denver locker room, with the cutdown date to a 53-man roster looming, Payton told his players: “Don’t ever get tired of how it feels to win.”

Yes, the Broncos are in a better place than they were at this time last year, if for no other reason than the coach can look at his starting quarterback as his adopted son rather than his worst enemy.

During the past month, the Broncos have built good vibes and decided Nix is the man. And that’s good stuff.

But if recent NFL history is any indicator, that 3-0 record is virtually meaningless.

During a three-year period from 2021-23, there were 17 teams that put together undefeated preseasons.

And four of those 17 made the playoffs.

With chest puffed, Payton reminds us how Nix, Stidham and Wilson have justified his scouting and coaching prowess. Although we all know the Broncos could save $5 million by cutting Stidham, Payton bristled at the slightest suggestion that economics would figure in the team’s decisions about the quarterback room.

“We’ve got enough money,” Payton said.

Dollars aren’t the issue. Value is.

As the 12th overall pick in the draft, Nix better be a bona fide starter in this league. But is the rest of the NFL as impressed in the talent of Stidham and Wilson as Payton professes to be?

“I think I’ve told you already I see the three of them making it,” said Payton.

Would keeping two back-up quarterbacks as an insurance policy against injury to Nix help Denver win more games than Jones, who recorded 145 tackles for the Rams last season?

Although completing 16 of 25 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns against defenders on the back end of Arizona’s roster far from guarantees Wilson will ever make the Pro Bowl, it did reconfirm my belief he possesses talent worth saving after a disastrous start to his pro career with the New York Jets.

Now I want to know: Could Stidham be worth more to the Broncos on the trade market than on the sideline holding a computer pad?

If the Rams truly are serious about trading Jones, is Stidham enough to get the conversation started?

I tend to doubt it.

But I would be delighted to be proven wrong.

Outside of Colorado, I’m not certain anybody in the NFL views the Broncos as having enough talent to be considered a legit playoff contender.

Jones owns a Super Bowl ring.

Go get him.