Since 2015, the Denver Broncos have had a revolving door at quarterback, but haven’t locked in a franchise quarterback that they drafted since 1983. Now yes, Peyton Manning is arguably one of the best Broncos QB’s of all time, but he was drafted by Indianapolis. It looks like that drought will end in 2024 with the Denver Broncos selecting Bo Nix, then on Tuesday Sean Payton named the rookie as the Week One starter.
Many believe Payton could’ve found his next Drew Brees and rightfully so, Nix was one of the most experienced college players of all time. Unfortunately, he slipped in the first round due to his “age” despite having all the tools and experience. Luckily, Payton knew after Nix’s pro day and team interview that he was his guy.
Bo Nix College Career
Heading into the draft, Nix was the most accurate passer in College with a 78% completion rate in 2024. Throughout his college career he put up some crazy numbers: 15,351 passing yards, 113 Touchdowns, 26 interceptions and a passer rating of 149.6. One of the biggest stats that wasn’t talked about during the draft process was that throughout his two years at Oregon, Nix never fumbled the ball once.
Teams in today’s era don’t value older quarterbacks coming out of college because they would prefer to develop a “younger” quarterback.
Battle for QB 1
Since the beginning of training camp, we knew that Sean Payton and the Broncos were going to have a quarterback battle between Nix, Jarrett Stidham, and Zach Wilson.
With any positional battle, gaining an advantage in the first preseason game is huge. Though, that’s what the Oregon product did. Nix played tremendously well throwing for 125 yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 102.3. Even though Stidham played only one drive, he didn’t have as good of a game as he threw for 37 yards, one interception, and a passer rating of 32.1.
Game two of the preseason was the game that sealed the fate that the Broncos have found their next franchise quarterback. Nix got the chance to start and thrived by putting up 80 yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 140.2. Meanwhile, Stidham put up 65 yards, another interception, and a passer rating of 41.9.
These numbers weren’t the only thing balancing in favor of Nix but after watching the film it was clear that the Denver offense ran more smoothly with Bo Nix under center.
In a division run by Patrick Mahomes, if Nix can continue how he played in the preseason throughout his rookie year, the Broncos could very well sneak into the playoff picture come December.
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