The Denver Broncos came into the NFL Draft with a quarterback room of Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson and Ben DiNucci. It was no surprise to hear rumors this week that the Broncos were looking into trading up in the first round.
The Broncos didn’t trade up but got a quarterback anyway. They drafted Oregon quarterback Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick, which was their original pick. Nix was the sixth quarterback off the board.
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The Broncos have been struggling to find any answers at quarterback since Peyton Manning retired, and that happened all the way back in 2016. They thought they had it solved by trading for Russell Wilson two years ago, and that turned out horribly and with a massive dead salary cap hit for Wilson when they cut him this offseason.
They watched five quarterbacks go in the top 10 picks. But they still had one they apparently liked fall to them at No. 12. Sean Payton has a new quarterback to work with.
Bo Nix’s circuitous path
It’s not that unusual anymore for a highly drafted quarterback to have a couple of stops in his career. But part of Nix’s story is how things changed for him after transferring.
Nix had three seasons at Auburn and while he was solid, he wasn’t great and perhaps a little disappointing. Nix was the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his recruiting class, but had just 39 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for the Tigers.
Nix was a great fit at Oregon and he took off. He had 74 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in two Oregon seasons, including a third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting last season. Those two years with the Ducks were huge for his NFL stock.
That college career means Nix comes to the NFL with a lot of experience. Nix shattered the NCAA record with 61 career starts at quarterback. He’s 24 years old. His age is not a positive as he enters the NFL, but it does mean he could be more prepared to start right away than many quarterbacks coming into the NFL.
That’s good, because the Broncos need him to play very soon.
Broncos hope they have an answer at QB
The Broncos haven’t been back to the playoffs since Manning retired. That can be traced directly back to their failures finding a quarterback.
The Broncos have gone through failed draft picks like Paxton Lynch, old veterans like Joe Flacco and Case Keenum and the Wilson trade that went horribly wrong.
Nix provides hope for better days ahead. The Broncos could choose to start Stidham while Nix waits, though part of the benefit of drafting Nix is his experience and NFL-ready resume. Wilson was brought on, but that was for a late-round draft pick swap. The Broncos got him as a cheap reclamation project, not as a possible quarterback of the future.
Nix can be that quarterback of the future. It’s a little scary to put that on the sixth quarterback taken in a draft class, but he has talent. Nix waited a bit. After the first three quarterbacks went, Michael Penix Jr. went to the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings traded up for J.J. McCarthy, which allowed Nix to fall to the Broncos at No. 12.
The Broncos have been waiting for a break at quarterback. Maybe Thursday night, having Nix fall to them was the one they needed.
