NFL Trade Rumors
Broncos HC Sean Payton isn’t shy about letting people know when something is starting to annoy him, and he’s starting to get fed up with some of the narratives about QB Bo Nix. Denver’s selection of Nix at No. 12 overall last year was lampooned as a reach at the time by plenty of analysts. The perception was that Nix was maxed out physically and his stats were inflated from the move from Auburn to Oregon’s spread offense. But Payton cites a deep touchdown throw to WR Marvin Mims in a December game against the Bengals to refute the critics.
“That was the longest pass, by air yards, in the league in the ’24 season,” Payton said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “The ’24 season, the longest ball traveled is from the guy that has no arm strength.”
Payton can rattle off a whole laundry list of things he thinks the Broncos were wise to that contradicted the pre-draft perception of Nix, from some of his athletic testing numbers, to how well Nix threw the ball in his private workout with the team, to various stats like Nix’s efficiency from a dirty pocket and how well he did at avoiding sacks — both of which projected well to the NFL. Payton believes Nix fell victim to groupthink in the pre-draft process, and some of those perceptions are still lingering.
“If you’re not careful, there’s this train that’s moving with these assumptions,” Payton said. “And no one really knows who’s driving it. We know there’s a number of people grading, and in charge of the draft, but it’s not like there’s a captain. And it just moves. I said to [CEO] Greg Penner, ‘It’s important that we pay attention to that train, because that can give us information, relative to other teams. But man, let’s never hop on.’”
As for what the truth really is about what Nix can be in the NFL?
“I honestly think he’s gonna be one of the top quarterbacks within the next two years,” Payton added. “I think he’s going to be a superstar.”
