Senior quarterback Bo Nix had an amazing 2023 season for the Oregon Ducks, but yet he isn’t being talked about as a top quarterback in this year’s draft class. With key names such as Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels. From my perspective, there isn’t much of a difference between them and Nix.

In recent years the media and NFL scouts prefer the popular player among fans when they fill out their mock drafts. In doing so, they are losing the reality of what the quarterback position should be. Nix has a lot of the key attributes to be a successful quarterback at the NFL level.

Bodacious Bo

In August, billboards went up in NYC with a tagline saying “Bodacious” in referring to Bo Nix in hopes of a Heisman campaign. Furthermore, he had one of the best single-season performances of all time.

The tagline took off during the beginning of the year and lasted the whole season thanks to dominant season which landed Nix as a Heisman Finalist. The University of Oregon was able to promote and sell Bodacious shirts and apparel helping his NIL, which stands for Name, Image and Likeness.

During the regular season, Nix threw for 40 touchdowns, just three interceptions and 4,145 yards (No. 2 in Nation) in 2023. In addition, he helped lead the Ducks to an 11-2 regular season record and the Pac-12 championship game where they lost by three to the Washington Huskies. Don’t discredit the heroic effort from Nix and company in that game to get back in it. In his final college game, the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, he threw for 5 touchdowns. He ultimately had 9 games this year with three or more touchdown passes including a six-touchdown game against Arizona State.

A case for a top 20

When NFL scouts and analysts break down a player during the draft process, we look for the intangibles at the quarterback position. (Accuracy, Reading Defenses, Arm Strength, and Football IQ) Nix has most if not all the intangibles as well as winning in the big moments which is key for an NFL quarterback.

With Caleb Williams being labeled as the “front runner” for being the first quarterback off the board in the NFL draft, I look back at the game between him and Nix where I saw Nix outplay him and it wasn’t close. Williams threw for 291 yards and one touchdown which was against a top-10 scoring defense, most of the time you’re going to see even better defenses in the NFL so that leaves me with some concern. Meanwhile, Bo Nix threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns.

With how many teams in the NFL need help at the quarterback position, Nix should be considered a quarterback who can lead an NFL offense. With Bo Nix at quarterback for Oregon, the Ducks went 22-4 across two seasons. In all of those games, Nix silenced the pressure, remained calm and didn’t let the defense get to him as he was willing to take a hit while standing in the pocket a little longer to make a completion. That shows that he has what it takes to lead a franchise at the next level.

Potential landing spots for Nix that would fit him at the next level would be the Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. The similarities between these teams are that they have already developed weapons that just need a quarterback with an arm. More specifically an arm that can complete passes at a high rate.

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