I looked this up before I visited Denver Broncos camp, and thought it was pretty remarkable—over 26 seasons coaching in the NFL, this will be the first in which he’s been part of drafting a quarterback in the first round.
In Philadelphia, he had Randall Cunningham, Rodney Peete and Bobby Hoying. In New York, it was Kerry Collins. In Dallas, it was Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe. Of course, in New Orleans, nearly his entire run was with Drew Brees. So this experience, starting from ground zero with such a high pick, is a new one for the veteran coach.
The difference, Payton told me, comes with the “expectations that early in the process” for a young guy. The good news? Nix has those expectations for himself. And Payton has bigger expectations for him, too, than most of the NFL did in April.
In fact, Payton told me that he had Nix and one other quarterback as the two in the top tier of the NFL draft.
“My evaluation of him, I was so much different in where I saw this list [of quarterbacks],” Payton says. “We spent a ton of time on all these guys. You trust your evaluation and you hope you’re in a position to draft a player. Let’s not worry about where we’re taking him. Let’s worry about where he’ll be in three years. … Is it different coaching a first-round pick? Yeah. It’s different in that sense of when you take someone at 12, [it’s different than] when we signed Brees from the Chargers. That was an uneventful signing.”
Point being, the idea for Payton is to coach the position the same way he did when he welcomed Brees to New Orleans in 2006. And that, obviously, starts with who is actually going to play quarterback for the Broncos in ’24.
The baseline here would be Nix’s readiness for the job, given his record 61 starts as a collegian, a strength going into the draft.
“It still has to be what’s best for this team to start the season,” Payton says. “Now the good news is he’s coming in and really opened it up. You talk to defensive coaches or anybody that’s been at these practices like, . This guy’s got really good arm talent. It’s just getting acclimated to the calls. [And to complement that], there’s so much he can do off-schedule.
“When we watched his tape, the pockets in our league are dirty, and a lot of the times quarterbacks need a full stride. He’s one of those guys that can take a real short step. He made a big throw the other day with a short rusher.”
He’s also gotten it done in the classroom, as part of a really impressive rookie class (we’ll have more on that later in the takeaways, and also in the Tuesday notes) in Denver. Ex-Oregon teammate Alex Forsyth, who’s battling to be the Broncos’ center, told those in the building in the spring that his buddy would be able to handle a lot when it comes to protections and checks, and that’s proven to be true—with Nix, through extra hours of work, now able to teach back some of the things he’s learned to his young teammates.
The other day, Payton did narrow most of the first-team reps to Nix and Jarrett Stidham, though he did tell Zach Wilson that he wasn’t out of the competition. So that would indicate that Nix’s path to the starting job is there. But Payton was clear he won’t rush it.
“We’re not there yet with the quarterback, relative to who’s going to be the starter,” he says. “Trust in the process and letting it speak to you is important.”
For his part, though, Nix’s actions have already spoken loudly.
While we’re here, let’s give you a quick check-in on the other five first-round quarterbacks.
• Caleb Williams has had the standard rookie ups and downs, but is pretty far ahead at this point, in large part because of the plan the Chicago Bears laid out for him. They put in formations, cadence and terminology with him before the draft—in their allotted three one-hour Zoom sessions—and Williams used the 40 days between OTAs and camp (we’ll have more on that soon on the website) effectively. He’s the starter, and I’d bet he’ll play well as a rookie.
• Jayden Daniels has hit all the markers the Washington Commanders had for his progress. Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t want to preach competition and open it up at every position just to hand a rookie the quarterback job. But the overwhelming likelihood, especially with how the scheme should help highlight Daniels’s strengths, is that he is the guy. Getting to see him run the operation in a preseason game probably helps get Washington there. What the Commanders already know is that the 23-year-old’s work ethic and ability to retain information is elite, which sure is a good starting point for a quarterback.
• Drake Maye has had rough moments, to be sure, but New England Patriots people attribute that to him running with the second team, and how the team’s offensive line depth issue has shown up with that group. What’s impressed his coaches most is how good of a processor he is on the field—he can go, in his progression, from one to two to three , and even threw a touchdown pass to his fourth read in red-zone drills the other day. He sees things right away, and his footwork has come a long way, too. That said, to this point, Jacoby Brissett has been the best quarterback in camp.
• Michael Penix Jr. has been impressive in Atlanta, particularly while he’s run the second-team offense against the first-team defense. He’s come along fast with the operational elements he had to learn, getting guys in and out of the huddle, and he’s getting a better feel for progressing to the backside of some of the Falcons’ new passing concepts. What Atlanta can already see is his ability to push the ball down the field. Those there say he’s giving the team a handful of wow throws every week.
• J.J. McCarthy, unsurprisingly, has shown himself a fast study. The accuracy and arm the Vikings saw on tape are there, as are the intangibles—his work ethic in particular. That said, Minnesota is still working through his fundamentals and footwork in accordance with their scheme, and that, again, as expected, is taking some time. So progress is coming steadily, but Minnesota’s been pretty committed to its plan to bring McCarthy along step by step, with Sam Darnold still taking the majority of first-team reps (and showing the arm talent of a former third overall pick) and giving them the flexibility to sit the rookie, if that’s what’s best. Also big for McCarthy’s development (and Darnold’s, too)? Getting to face Brian Flores’s varied defensive scheme in practice every day.
