The moment it became clear the Denver Broncos were going to cut ties with Russell Wilson this offseason, everyone around the league knew head coach Sean Payton would take a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft. Evidently, Denver felt it needed to deploy unusual deception to get its new franchise quarterback.
After five quarterbacks were chosen within the first 11 picks, Denver selected Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick. Once Nix was off the board, another quarterback wouldn’t be selected until the 150th overall pick, when the New Orleans Saints took Spencer Rattler in the fifth found.
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Consensus grades on the 2024 quarterback class had Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy viewed as the only surefire first-round talents. However, Denver reportedly felt quite different and even used deception in its war room.
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Broncos’ front office had the 2024 NFL Draft quarterback prospects ranked “in no particular order” on their draft board this offseason to “prevent any sort of bias in discussions” and to “keep the brass’ secret” that they wanted Nix.
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Examining the legitimacy of the Broncos’ draft strategy
Since selecting Nix, Denver hasn’t been shy of telling reporters it “fooled” other teams during the 2024 NFL Draft. During the post-draft press conference, Payton took it upon himself to say that he was actively involved in convincing the Minnesota Vikings they had to trade up to draft J.J. McCarthy.
“I was actively involved in trying to pretend we were moving forward.”In other words”
Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton on allegedly fooling the Minnesota Vikings into trading up (H/T CBS Sports)
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This is the same coach who made sure everyone knew after quarterback Patrick Mahomes became the NFL MVP how badly he wanted to draft him with the New Orleans Saints. As the Broncos’ coach, Payton also indicated he feels as strongly about Nix as he did Mahomes.
The problem with Denver’s draft strategy and Payton’s comments following the 2024 NFL Draft are that everyone was already connecting them to Nix. Insiders labeled the Oregon Ducks quarterback as Denver’s likely target, while analysts suggested he would be a reasonable selection if Denver traded down in Round 1.
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Payton and the Broncos got the quarterback they wanted, but it’s also very possible that other NFL teams were perfectly happy to go along with it and appease the Broncos’ mind games because they didn’t want Nix. As for the Broncos’ ranking of quarterback prospects, it didn’t matter much considering the top five passers were already off the board when Denver was put on the clock.