Bo Nix is not your typical rookie quarterback. The Broncos signal-caller had an extensive college career, starting at Auburn in 2019 and ending at Oregon in 2023. That’s five years of action, and his 61 starts in that span are the most in NCAA history for a quarterback. field. Given his long career at the college level, he is also an older prospect as a 24-year-old rookie.
All of this is to point out that we’ve seen a lot of Nix, so there’s plenty of tape for the Atlanta Falcons to watch as they prepare for their Week 11 matchup against him on Sunday. Starting safety Jessie Bates even noted that Nix was a bit of a veteran when asked Friday what the difficulties are in facing a quarterback without much NFL tape to review.
“Ten games is usually enough film to really see a quarterback’s strengths or weaknesses or what he likes to do,” Bates said. “Almost sometimes it’s a good thing when you don’t have much. You’re not thinking too much about what this quarterback is capable of doing.
“We’ve been watching him in college for the last five or six years… However long it’s been, 10 years. He’s not a rookie quarterback, he looks almost like a graduate student. He’s doing a good job, like “I said, executing his offense at a high level.”
That experience comes with productivity for Nix, as he played well for Denver during the first half of the year. Under the tutelage of Sean Payton, he has helped the Broncos to a 5-5 record while completing 63.6% of his passes with a passer rating of 82.9 and throwing more touchdowns (10) than interceptions (6 ). That production has Denver firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot, and they currently sit at No. 7 in the AFC. And a win Sunday against Bates’ Falcons at home (as a two-point favorite) could go a long way toward furthering those efforts.
