The Broncos made a big swing for a quarterback when they traded for Russell Wilson, but his two years in Denver resulted in losing records that extended the team’s run of playoff-less seasons to eight and led the team to take another one in this year’s draft.
Bo Nix is the one coming from the Pacific Northwest to Denver this time. The Broncos made the well-seasoned Nix the 12th pick in the draft after watching him play for Auburn and Oregon over the last five years.
Nix played in 61 games for the two schools and there are some who think that the 24-year-old has less room to improve than younger quarterbacks, but General Manager George Paton said the Broncos’ analysis was more focused on where Nix is now rather than where things might stand years from now.
“You look at it, it’s hard because this is new but 24 years old is not that old for football,’’ Paton said to Mike Klis of KUSA. “You evaluate it but you’re really evaluating the player, you’re evaluating the person. Evaluate how they fit in with the organization, especially for a quarterback. To me the age, they’re going to be more, especially with a guy like Bo Nix, 61 starts, we feel like he’ll be more game-ready than if we were going to draft a 21 year old.”
The Broncos’ playoff drought has seen them run through a number of starters at quarterback and none of them have done a particularly good job. Nix’s ceiling won’t be much of a concern if his floor is enough to put the team back into the postseason mix.