Last week, Robert Griffin III took to X to proclaim that Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is the most "underrated" signal-caller in the NFL. On the heels of a record-breaking rookie season, it's worth asking whether Nix gets the credit he deserves, especially with the long shadow cast by Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Draft pedigree matters in the perception of NFL quarterbacks, especially early in a player's career. Nix was drafted 10 spots after Daniels — who went No. 2 overall — but that gap feels like a chasm in terms of media perception around the league.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer might see Nix a bit differently, though. In an article echoing Griffin's remarks, Breer underlined Nix's underrated NFL clout when addressing the outlook of second-year quarterbacks entering the 2025 season.
"Interestingly, of the group, we probably know the most about Bo Nix. I’m also not sure Nix gets the credit he deserves for how last year went—the Denver Broncos didn’t have a single Pro Bowler on offense, and only three alternates (tackle Garett Bolles, guard Quinn Meinerz and Nix himself)—and the quarterback was runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year for a playoff team," Breer wrote.
Does Nix's 61 career starts in college have something to do with the almost dismissive conversation (or lack thereof) surrounding him? I don't think so, but when Nix entered the 2024 NFL draft, he did so as the most experienced college quarterback of all time.
Nix would go on to win the starting job in Denver out of training camp, becoming the first Broncos rookie since John Elway in 1983 to open the season as the starting quarterback. Despite suffering a back injury in Week 12, Nix would go on to start all 17 regular-season games and Denver's Wildcard playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.
That's 18 more games added to Nix's resume. Early last season, he looked every bit the rookie, but by October, he kicked Sean Payton's training wheels off and never looked back. By season's end, Nix had passed for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns, leading all rookie quarterbacks.
Counting all NFL quarterbacks, I would argue that Nix did more with less than any of them. That's only magnified, as Breer illustrates, when it comes to comparing Nix to his fellow 2024 rookie signal-callers.
Perhaps because of Nix's wealth of starting experience entering just his second season, Breer posits that Denver's quarterback might have the highest floor of the 2024 class, with the exception of Daniels.
"Given Nix’s steadiness through last year, and the presence of Sean Payton, it’s fair to say of the non-Daniels 2024 draft quarterbacks, Nix has the highest floor," Breer wrote.
Daniels proved to be a stunningly productive quarterback in Year 1, but I'm not convinced that his floor is higher than Nix's. Daniels' ceiling may be higher, but that's a different conversation.
Time will tell how things shake out for the other five quarterbacks drafted ahead of Nix in the first round last year. Daniels landed in a fortuitous situation with his supporting cast in Washington, while J.J. McCarthy will also benefit from a loaded arsenal and the tutelage of Kevin O'Connell.
Drake Maye has a new coaching staff to help get more out of him, while the Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson, the most coveted head-coaching candidate in this year's hiring cycle, to salvage the 2024 No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams. The sleeper of this group, though, may be Michael Penix Jr. in Atlanta, who will enter Year 2 as the unquestioned starter.
All that being said, Nix has the trump card in the form of Payton. O'Connell and Johnson have momentum, but so does Payton, and what the Broncos' head coach has in spades that neither of those two head coaches do is quarterback resume dating back nearly two decades, featuring one success story after another.
And Payton's reportedly motivated to turn Nix into an NFL star. It'll be fun to see how it plays out in 2025.
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