Broncos Super Bowl champ casts doubt on Sean Payton-Bo Nix pairing
The idea of Bo Nix becoming a great quarterback under Sean Payton's leadership is enticing for Denver Broncos fans. While the team didn't have to trade up to get his services, there's still much uncertainty about his quality and whether he can develop into a true franchise quarterback.
Sean Payton is known as a quarterback guru through league circles, but the truth is that he hasn't had much success outside of Drew Brees — he's the one quarterback with whom Payton had success as a mentor. As a result, former Broncos cornerback Chris Harris is uncertain of the head coach's ability to develop Nix:
“I mean, he’s the best guy out there,” Harris Jr. said. “He’s supposed to be the quarterback guru — and I think I can only, I don’t know that many quarterbacks he’s actually guru’d though. Only one I can remember is Drew Brees so far. Maybe you have a little more history on that.”
Why was Bo Nix considered a "reach" by the Denver Broncos?
After spending so much time inside college football and with not many tools to make himself a superstar in the league, a quick look at Nix only shows that he's a limited quarterback — not a bad one by any means, but to use the 12th pick to select him isn't really a great use of resources by the Denver Broncos.
The Oregon product started his college career playing for Auburn and transferred later, and he's smart enough to play in the NFL. But that's not good enough for being a first-round pick, where teams expect draft picks to become game-changers. When you select a quarterback, the pressure is even higher.
On the other side, though, you can understand why the Broncos decided to take such a risk. Sean Payton assumed a huge dead cap by letting Russell Wilson go. Now, he needs to get the position right to save his job. Patience runs thin when your team isn't winning on Sundays.