After many months, meetings, and travel, the Broncos’ first-round plan turned out to be very simple and can be summarized in two letters.
Bo.
Denver set its course for the future and coach Sean Payton took a big risk by selecting Oregon quarterback Bo Nix at No. 12 Bo Nix, a six-year college player with 61 games as a starter and impressive statistics in the past two years leading the Ducks offense, seemed like a good fit for the team's strategy. However, he wasn't seen as a great value in the first half of the first round..
Nix, a six-year college player who started 61 games and put up impressive numbers the past two years running the Ducks offense, all along felt like a clean fit from a scheme standpoint. He was not, however, considered a particularly good value in the first half of the first round.
In recent years, however, quarterbacks have been picked earlier and earlier. Never faster and more furiously than this night.
USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye went in succession the first three picks. None of Washington, Chicago and New England, respectively, could be convinced to move off those opportunities.
Atlanta dropped the stunner and picked Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 two months after giving Kirk Cousins $100 million guaranteed. Then Minnesota moved up one spot to No. 10 to ensure it got the fifth quarterback of the night in Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.
All the while, the Broncos were not concerned.
They waited out free agency. They waited out weeks of trade talks before acquiring Zach Wilson from the New York Jets on Monday for minimal cost. What’s a few more picks and a quintet of quarterbacks?
Payton said at the NFL scouting combine that his team would ace the quarterback evaluation process and other teams wouldn’t. Then he stood pat at No. 12 and had no qualms about taking the sixth quarterback of the night.
“It means a lot,” Nix said. “I can’t thank them enough for taking me, and for putting their belief in me. Like I said, there’s a lot in the future that’s going to need to be done — a lot of work to be done, a lot of growing and a lot of getting better. I just appreciate the value that they had in me.”
They left premium options for teams behind. They could have had Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. They could have had their pick of defensive players. The first didn’t come off the board until Indianapolis took UCLA pass-rusher Laiatu Latu at No. 15, the longest stretch of all offense to start a draft in NFL history.
Instead, they did what so much of the top half of the draft order did: took a swing at the game’s most important position.
The Broncos thoroughly evaluated Nix throughout the process, just as they did with the other quarterbacks in the class. They didn’t have a loud presence at his pro day in March, but Sean Payton and company were in Eugene and held a lengthy private workout and meeting with him the next day.
“We talked a lot of football and we talked a lot about (Payton’s) scheme and what he’s done for so many years and how he’s been so successful,” Nix said. “It was a blast talking football, to be honest with you. It was a blast being in there with him and the other coaches. They brought a lot of guys out there to the private (meeting) and I was just very honored to have them around.”
The way the board fell offers a clear and convincing method to evaluate Denver's process. Since Nix was the last of the six quarterbacks selected, the Broncos will either have demonstrated superior skill and scouting compared to twelve other teams, or it will appear as if they felt pressured to choose a quarterback.
The consequences of this are equally evident and just as compelling: If Nix resolves the eight-year quarterback problem the team has faced, this will be a defining moment. The selection did not require any additional draft capital and leaves Payton and general manager George Paton with seven more selections for addressing other areas of need in the next two days. There are plenty of needs to address.
If not, the decision to select a player who was not widely considered one of the best talents in the draft will be scrutinized for years to come. Could the Broncos have chosen Nix later? Is he significantly better than Spencer Rattler? How many touchdowns did Bowers score for Las Vegas against Denver this year?
That's the nature of making this gamble. Payton showed his commitment by using his first-round pick.
First-round picks have to deliver results regardless of their position, but especially when it's a quarterback and particularly for a team that hasn't chosen one since 2021.
If Nix learns to operate Payton's offensive system as effectively as he did Oregon's, the Broncos will benefit for years to come. If he ends up performing similarly to the typical sixth quarterback chosen in a draft, Denver will likely continue to trail behind in a division that includes two of the game's top quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.
No pressure.
QB Bo Nix, Oregon
Round/pick: 1st/No. 12
Age: 24
Height/weight: 6-foot-2/217 pounds
College: Oregon
Hometown: Pinson, Ala.
Notable: Nix is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in this year's draft class, having played in 61 career games and recording 15,352 passing yards, 113 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. A four-star recruit in high school, he was ranked the best dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 class by 247sports. Nix spent three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Oregon and becoming a college football superstar. He accumulated 8,101 passing yards, 74 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in his two seasons with the Ducks, achieving a 22-5 record.
