The No Bull perspective on Bo Nix being taken in the first round

The Denver Broncos spent their first round draft pick on Bo Nix out of the University of Oregon. Let’s dig into why the team went this direction.

Denver needed a starting quarterback…that’s why.

We could stop there, but hopefully, I can provide a little more perspective on why Bo Nix was the first-round pick for the Denver Broncos at a deeper level than just, “duh.”

Also, let me extend a warm welcome to Duck fans who are discovering milehighreport.com and Broncos Country. Pull up a chair, hit us up in the comments, and stick around. This fan base is as passionate as you’ll find in the NFL and we hope you enjoy seeing your former quarterback help get this team back on track in the near future!

The Russell Wilson experiment

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We can’t tell the story of why Bo Nix was drafted without talking about what happened in the first year of the Sean Payton era as the head coach for the Denver Broncos.

With an absurd contract, Payton had to roll with Wilson as his quarterback in 2023. Hindsight tells us that part of his coming to Denver includes him having an understanding with ownership that if Wilson didn’t pan out, they would have to eat that contract and move on in some form or fashion.

I think Payton gave him a true and honest attempt at making it work. The Broncos offense was tailored around what worked for Wilson. While we got improvement from the offense overall, it was still not enough to get this team back to being a winning franchise. The offense fell flat as the season wore on, and Wilson couldn’t elevate his play any further than we saw in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The Sean Payton Offense

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The first order of business for the 2024 Denver Broncos is to evolve their offense to what truly works for Sean Payton.

That means reading the defense, manipulating coverage situations, quick post-snap reads, and getting the ball out accurately to the right option as fast as possible.

This is what Drew Brees achieved for years with Sean Payton to the tune of a Hall of Fame career and a Super Bowl championship.

To get back to those kinds of results, the Broncos needed a young quarterback who can do those same kinds of things. That’s not to say Bo Nix is a Drew Brees clone. I don’t think that’s true at all. I think Bo is a much better athlete and scrambler than Brees ever was just looking at the tape.

But their similarity is the ability to understand and execute the offense their coaches want them to run. They are both extremely quick at processing what is happening pre-snap and post-snap. That’s a skill that can only be honed so much. Quarterbacks need to have the kind of God-given ability to read and react quickly to really become elite at it.

When I watch Bo Nix film of what he did at the University of Oregon, you can see it easily. He’s seeing the openings in coverage a split second before they are there. He reads his progressions correctly and understands which target to get the ball to.

Franchise Quarterback Qualities

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In today’s NFL, you need an accurate quarterback, and this guy was phenomenal at getting the ball on target to his guys. In his 2 years at Oregon, he completed over 70% of his throws.

I’ve heard a lot of noise about him dumping a lot of balls off, but I’m honestly not sure I get that criticism. I’m an eye-test guy and I like to watch not just highlight reels, but full game so I can see what happened throughout the game, not just the good stuff.

Did he throw short? Sure. But guess what? That’s what the play was either designed to do or what the defense gave up. I heard this same talk about Peyton Manning and am still rolling my eyes about it.

I don’t honestly care so much about how short the ball is thrown, I care about results. Did the pass get caught? Did the play gain enough yards to keep the team on schedule? Are these plays leading to successful drives for the offense?

Bo Nix may not be a quarterback who throws a lot of passes on a frozen rope. He may throw a lot of wounded ducks (no pun intended, Oregon fans). We’re good as long as those passes get completed and some of them get us to the end zone.

Final Thoughts

Sean Payton got his guy. This is the right pick at the right time. For the silly draftniks out there who want to cry about value, let’s remind you that the draft doesn’t work in a vacuum. The Raiders needed a QB as well and were only a couple of picks behind us.

George Paton and Sean Payton got the right pick here at the right time. Nix is a player who looks like he’s ready to step in week 1 and get started. Yes, he’s a rookie and I expect him to need some growth. But that development is going to happen best if he’s getting the snaps and learning by doing.