Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Denver Broncos have a new franchise quarterback.
The Broncos selected Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick in this year’s draft, which some viewed as a reach. So far, Nix has put those concerns to bed and has impressed in preseason action. He completed 23 of 30 pass attempts (76.7% completion rate), throwing for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
Nix Beat Out the Vets
That performance was enough for Nix to win the starting job over veterans Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson. It’s an encouraging start for the former Oregon product, but Nix has to prove he can be a long-term solution.
The last time Denver had stability at the quarterback position was with Hall of Famer Peyton Manning in 2015. That year, he led the franchise to its third Super Bowl, retiring shortly after.
If you forgot how good Manning was at football, here are some of his career highlights:
With Nix officially the starter for Week 1, he’ll become the 14th starting quarterback since Manning retired. That includes the infamous Kendall Hinton game in 2020, where the Broncos had to play a backup wide receiver at quarterback.
Consistently Inconsistent
The instability at the position has prevented the Broncos from making the playoffs in the eight seasons since then. That’s the second-longest active playoff drought in the NFL, only behind the 13 seasons of the New York Jets.
The offense has struggled to put points on the board over that stretch. The last time Denver’s offense scored more points per game than the league average was in 2014, when the team finished second with Manning.
It would be bold to assume Nix will propel this year’s offense to that level, but the Broncos offense should be better than last season’s 19th-ranked offense (21 points per game). The loss of wide receiver Jerry Jeudy will sting, but Nix will still have plenty of talent to work with.
Wide receiver Courtland Sutton topped 750 yards for the third consecutive season and will look to be over 1,000 yards for the first time since his Pro Bowl season in 2019. Last year, running back Javonte Williams contributed over 1,000 yards from the line of scrimmage, a threat in both the run and passing game. The talent is there, and Nix might be the perfect person to unlock the offense’s potential.
Nix is Here to Stay
Nix was electric in college. In his senior season at Oregon, he threw 44 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He was the heartbeat of the second-best scoring offense in the country, as the team scored 44.3 points (!) per game.
Another boost Nix’s skillset should provide Denver is his ability to limit turnovers while moving down the field.
Interceptions weren’t an issue for the Broncos last year, but the offense struggled to move down the field on plenty of scoring opportunities. The Broncos were one of just 10 teams last season who didn’t pass for over 200 yards per game. Nix, who averaged 322 passing yards per game in his final season at Oregon, should instantly fix that.
Nix has yet to make his NFL debut, but a starved fanbase that hasn’t had a franchise quarterback in nearly a decade already has high expectations. That’s a lot to ask of a rookie, especially considering Denver’s playoff aspirations, but it’s the position he finds himself in.
If his preseason play is any indication, Nix should stick around in Denver for the foreseeable future.
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