Entering his first season in the NFL, Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix is just seven months younger than fourth-year quarterback Zach Wilson.
Wilson spent three years in college before entering the NFL while Nix spent five years at the NCAA level. Nothing compares to experience in the pros, but Nix believes his experience with multiple coaches and offenses on his resume should help him pick up Denver’s offense quickly.
“I’ve been able to learn a lot, and I’ve been given a lot of information, and I’ve had to put it to use,” Nix said during a call with reporters on April 25 when asked about playing for multiple offensive coordinators in college. “I feel like that prepared me at a high level, and I feel like my experience has been really good for me to where now in this situation, I’ll be able to learn and grow as time goes on as we go into camps and get into practice. I just feel really confident in myself that I’ll be able to pick it up, ask good questions, be very intentional and enjoy the process.”
Nix’s hunch has proven to be true.
“Good, he’s farther along than most,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said on May 23 when asked how Nix was picking up the offense. “We’re talking about a player who has played 61 games. He’s extremely smart. He’s picked it up very quickly.”
Smarts are a key part of playing quarterback at the highest level, but Nix needs that knowledge to translate to success on the field. For a rookie quarterback, moving the chains with quick, efficient decisions might look like a boring practice to fans, but it’s exactly what Payton wants to see.
“Location of throw,” Payton said on May 11 when asked what makes a good practice for a quarterback. “[Nix] had two or three down-the-field throws today. It’s almost like watching a good golfer. Sometimes when you watch his game over two years, there’s a patience to how he plays. The ball comes out, and — I don’t want to use the term ‘boring,’ that’s not the right term, but [he makes] pretty good decisions. With each play, the efficiency of how he’s operating, and all of that.
“We’ve done these camps for a long time, and some teams no longer have a true rookie minicamp. It might be more of an orientation. I like to have the workout players here because we’ve found a tryout player every now and then. Then it also allows you to have the full-team drills, and I think it develops not just the quarterback, but everyone else. So often times your first exposure to huddle, snap count, verbiage, that can be challenging, but I thought he threw it well.”
We’re still early in the offseason program — Denver has a final set of organized team activities next week followed by a mandatory minicamp the following week. After that, players will have a summer break leading up to the start of training camp in late July. The quarterback competition will really start to heat up at training camp, but so far, Nix certainly appears to be off to a good start.
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