Anyone who has a ticket for the Broncos’ season finale against Arizona on Sunday can look forward to a matinee performance of the Zach Wilson Show.

Denver head coach Sean Payton confirmed Friday that Jarrett Stidham will start the third and final preseason game but will only play 8-12 snaps. After that, the team plans to take a closer look at Wilson.

Rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who was named the team’s starter on Wednesday, is not expected to play. Payton said the same will be true for most of the Broncos’ offensive players.

“We’re trying to pay close attention to the snaps,” Payton said. “… It’s going to be two phases rather than three.”

Although Payton made it clear Friday that he was not ready to make any announcements about his 53-man roster, he spoke like a coach who is seriously considering keeping all three to start the season.

“We have a pretty good idea of ​​the direction we’re going,” Payton said. “We’re going to meet here in about five minutes — (general manager George Paton), myself and a couple of others — and go through the roster as we see it and the discussion of the players. I think we’ve got a particularly good handle on this room.”

“We’re not announcing anything, but I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I like the room. I think we’ve gotten better and this will be a good test and a good opportunity for Zach to work with the second wave. He’ll get a lot of snaps.”

Payton said the club would “certainly” consider the idea of ​​keeping three quarterbacks on the roster.

“We looked at it and 14 of the 32 teams last year (did it). Just under half the league,” Payton said. “… Ultimately, I think the most important thing is that you really look at your assets when making this decision.”

Payton said this several times this week and reiterated it Friday that he doesn’t believe Wilson’s largely uneven 2-of-6 shooting performance last week against Green Bay was solely due to that.

“It’s often difficult to evaluate that position when the other pieces aren’t working,” Payton said, noting that among those who will get time Sunday are rookie running back Audric Estime and rookie wide receivers Devaughn Vele and Troy Franklin. “It’ll be good to watch him really work through his week of practice, bring it into the game, lead the team and just see him play.”

Wilson, 25, is an interesting redevelopment project after the 2021 No. 2 pick’s failed three-year stint with the New York Jets. He has 33 starts at the pro level and is just a few months older than Nix. The Broncos acquired him and a seventh-round pick from the Jets in April in exchange for a sixth-round pick. The teams agreed to split his salary this year, leaving Denver guaranteed to pay $2.73 million.

“He’s throwing the ball really well and I think the consistency with which he throws the football (has improved),” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. “As he gets more comfortable with the receivers and what we’re doing, his accuracy has improved. I think he was disappointed with his play on Sunday, but man, he’s had two excellent practices since that game.”

“He actually made half a dozen throws that were really impressive and surprising, so we all kind of looked at each other after he made the throw.”

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