Going with Bo: The Broncos have the smartest guy(s) in the room

It wasn’t raw talent that landed Oregon quarterback Bo Nix in Denver.

It’s not that he doesn’t have any. He does; a player with his statistical output in the Pac-12 (4,508 passing yards, 45 touchdowns with just three interceptions and a 77.4 completion percentage this season) certainly has God-given ability. It’s just that Nix’s physical talents – arm strength, escapability, size and strength – weren’t what Broncos head coach and de facto GM Sean Payton liked most.

The smartest guy in the room liked the fact that his 24-year-old rookie quarterback will most likely be the other smartest guy in the room – the quarterback room.

“He’s extremely intelligent, really smart. He handled a lot of the protections,” Payton told the press Thursday night, referring to some of the tests Nix passed with the Broncos prior to the draft. “When you watch him, it’s pretty calming. He’s very efficient, and it’s not just because of the [underneath throws]. You see a ton of NFL throws in (Oregon’s) offense.”

Trevor Siemian was smart, too.

Then again, Peyton Manning is no dummy, either.

What a quarterback has above the shoulders is most definitely important, but intelligence isn’t a sure-fire indication of future success. It’s not as if Nix is “only” a football savant. Per Payton, Nix was impressive in several key – most importantly, key to the coach himself – areas, including passing accuracy, sack differential, turnover differential, third-down passing and performance during situational football such as end of half, end of game, red zone and two-minute scenarios. On paper, Nix, who played more college football in total than his other first-round counterparts, looks like a can’t miss.

But not everyone saw it that way.

To point, there were five other quarterbacks taken before Nix in the draft; the next one wasn’t taken until the fifth round. Most national outlets weren’t too bullish when it came to grading the Broncos selection of Nix – Bleacher Report gave Denver a D; Chad Reuter of NFL.com offered up C; USA Today was hard on Paton and Payton with a C- overall, citing the Nix selection as an “overdraft.” The list could go on, but by and large, the consensus was that Nix was, for lack of a better term, a “reach.” The only bigger reach, perhaps, was the selection of Michael Penix Jr. to Atlanta – partially because Penix wasn’t graded that highly by most (largely because of his injury history) and partially because the Falcons had already signed free agent Kirk Cousins to a monster deal in the offseason. Many agree that Pennix Jr. has talent and upside if he stays healthy, but the situation – a team that didn’t seemingly need a quarterback using the eight overall pick – was mysterious at best.

Whether the Broncos took a big reach or not is yet to be determined. Sure, they might have been able to wait on Nix. Then again, when a team needs a quarterback, they just need one. And there’s no...