The Denver Broncos’ biggest story during training camp this summer is their quarterback situation. Sean Payton and Co. moved on from Russell Wilson after two seasons. It was a disastrous pairing.
With Wilson now in Pittsburgh, the Broncos’ quarterback situation is completely up in the air. They traded for former New York Jets first-round bust Zach Wilson immediately ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft this past spring.
Denver then exhausted its first-round pick on former Oregon Ducks star signal caller Bo Nix. With Jarrett Stidham as a holdover from a season ago, most figured we were looking at a three-headed competition during camp.
That might not be the case.
ESPN’s Jeff Legwold, reports that Nix seems to have the upper-hand over his two veteran counterparts.
While Payton has never had a rookie starter at quarterback in a head coaching career that dates to 2006, many in the league feel the coach has been positioning since draft day to make Nix his first,” Legwold reported.
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Bo Nix has the experience to start for the Denver Broncos out of the gate
This is one of the reasons Denver seemingly reached for the reigning Heisman finalist. Dating back to his days with Auburn, he threw 1,936 passes in college. That’s rare for a quarterback heading into the NFL.
This seems to align with Payton’s thinking. Here’s what the Broncos head coach had to say about Nix when drawing a comparison to his former quarterback with the New Orleans Saints, Drew Brees.
“All right, we’re looking for similarities. I would say mentally, Nix wants to know as much and as fast as he can,” Payton said, via CBS Sports. “I think there’s maybe a maturity level because, again, Nix played 61 games in college and when the Saints got Drew, it was off of his rookie contract and coming off an injury.”
As for competition, a previous report indicated that Wilson might have fallen to No. 3 on the Broncos’ depth chart behind Nix and Stidham. This also seems to align with the report that Nix is the front runner for the job.
He’ll make his preseason debut August 11 against the Indianapolis Colts.