Quarterback Bo Nix of the Oregon Ducks speaks with the media following the Fiesta Bowl against the Liberty Flames at State Farm Stadium on Jan. 1, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. The Ducks defeated the Flames 45-6. Denver set its course for the future and coach Sean Payton put his quarterback evaluation chops on the line in a major way Thursday night by selecting Oregon quarterback
Payton said at the NFL scouting combine that his team would ace the quarterback evaluation process and other teams wouldn’t. Then he stood pat at No. 12 and had no qualms about taking the sixth quarterback of the night. Instead, they did what so much of the top half of the draft order did: took a swing at the game’s most important position.
The way the board fell provides a clean and compelling way to measure Denver’s process. Because Nix was the last of the six off the board, the Broncos will have either outfoxed and out-scouted a dozen other teams or it will look like they forced the issue and took a quarterback because they felt they had to take one.
If not, the wisdom of selecting a player most didn’t have among the draft’s premier talents will be questioned up and down for years. Could the Broncos have landed Nix later? Is he that much better than Spencer Rattler? How many touchdowns did Bowers catch for Las Vegas against Denver this year?First-rounders have to produce regardless of position, but especially when it’s a quarterback and especially when a team hasn’t made one since 2021.