Bo Nix fits Sean Payton, but Oregon QB was a reach for Broncos | Paul Klee

ENGLEWOOD — It’s Bo time.

What convinced Sean Payton to hitch his Broncos future to former Oregon and Auburn quarterback Bo Nix with the No. 12 pick in the NFL draft?

“It was a blast talking football with them, to be honest,” Nix said late Thursday night, sounding very much like a 24-year-old diehard who, like his new coach, lives and breathes football 24/7.

Why am I convinced the Broncos goofed in taking the sixth quarterback in the draft when Georgia star tight end Brock Bowers was available? History, mostly. The Broncos will start Week 1 with their 14th starting quarterback since Peyton Manning. They’re bad at this.

Nix is the first quarterback taken by Denver in the first round since Paxton Lynch. Shudder.

After the Nix selection, Oregon football tweeted: “Let’s ride.” Please, no more riding. Just win.

But Payton could not care less with what you, I or Oregon think. The Broncos are his show. And Bo was Sean's pick — a pick to determine if the Payton era booms or busts.

“Man, we're excited,” said Payton, downright glowing in a manner we haven't seen in Denver.

Payton drafted a quarterback for only the fifth time in 17 years as a head coach. The other four, including CSU’s Garrett Grayson, played a total of two NFL games with or without Payton.

Meanwhile, Nix played a ton of college ball, setting an NCAA record for a quarterback with 61 starts across five seasons in the SEC and Pac-12. The young man is a football Van Wilder.

Bo fits Sean.

"He's super smart," said Payton, who leaned heavily on advanced analytics in his evaluation of Nix.

Payton desires a quarterback who thinks the game and does what the coach says. He doesn’t want a quarterback who improvises or strays from the Payton script. He didn’t want Russ.

We’ll see if that’s Nix. Won’t take long to find out. Considering how much college ball he played, Nix figures to be starting at quarterback for the Broncos sooner, not later.

On the night before the Broncos met with prospects, Payton gave them homework to see how quickly a young QB could process and recall information. Nix studied up and passed.

“I felt like he was in a hotel room with a ‘do not disturb’ sign and a pot of coffee,” Payton said.

Michael Penix Jr. was the quarterback I wanted in those snazzy new Broncos uniforms. The Broncos never got the chance, Penix Jr. going to the Falcons at No. 8 in a first-round stunner.

Five quarterbacks went before the Broncos took Nix. The first 14 picks were offensive players. Six were quarterbacks, a draft first. The Super Bowl champs are Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs.

Offense rules.

Do you think 2025 draft prospect Shedeur Sanders was seeing dollar signs Thursday night?

But all that also means the Broncos — at No. 12 and without trading up! — could have grabbed the top defensive player in the entire draft. Lord knows they need help everywhere.

The Broncos needed a defensive lineman, offensive tackle, safety, wide receiver, defensive end, running back, cornerback, quarterback, and, if the losing continues, a barback. The Broncos need everything, except for those snazzy new uniforms.

Nix got a vote of confidence from none other than Bill Belichick.

“There’s a lot to like about this kid. And he wins,” Belichick said on the Pat McAfee Show.

ESPN analyst Mel Kiper compared Nix to Drew Brees, Payton’s old buddy.

Woo, boy. That’s a reach. But so was Nix.

Similar personalities, maybe. Brees was a humble Christian athlete. Nix is a humble Christian athlete who wears Bible verses on his wristbands. Both married their college sweethearts. (Bo’s wife is named Izzy and seems nice.) “Leadership skills” applies to both.

A shared obsession with football was the natural connection between Payton and Nix, who worked out for and hung out with Broncos brass on multiple occasions prior to the draft.

“I was … almost speechless when I got that call,” Nix said.

Nix was benched at Auburn and roared back as a Heisman Trophy finalist at Oregon. The Broncos have been benched by the Chiefs and everyone else for most of a painful decade.

Now the Broncos must roar back with Bo, or the curtain will close on Sean. 

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The Bo Nix-Broncos file

Age: 24 (Feb. 25, 2000)

High school: Pinson (Ala.) Valley

Recruiting rankings: 5-star prospect (rivals.com)

Height/weight: 6-foot-2, 214 pounds

Colleges: Auburn (2019-21), Oregon (2022-23)

Awards: SEC Freshman of the Year (2019), Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year (2023), Heisman Trophy finalist (2023)

NCAA records: Most career starts by a quarterback (61), single-season completion percentage (77.4)

—First quarterback drafted in the first round by Denver since Payton Lynch (2016)

—First quarterback drafted by the Broncos since Drew Lock (2019)

—Second-highest quarterback drafted in franchise history (No. 11 Jay Cutler, 2006)

—Twelfth Oregon Duck drafted by the Broncos