Perhaps fans around the NFL and those within the media are looking at Denver Broncos rookie quarterback with a bit of pessimism. They are likely looking at the fact that five quarterbacks were taken before him and he is playing for a team that has missed the playoffs eight years in a row.
But the worst starting quarterback in the NFL?
As the 2024 NFL season is about to kick off on Thursday night, that is right where Steven Ruiz of The Ringer has Nix ranked, 32nd out of 32 starting quarterbacks. He has him lower than Bryce Young, Gardner Minshew, Sam Darnold, and well, all the other starting quarterbacks in the league.
I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous.
Of course, Ruiz can lean on the fact that Nix is a rookie, and the last one drafted in the first round, to help defend his position. Here is what he had to say in regarding to placing Nix at the bottom of his list.
Ruiz started by saying that Sean Payton shouldn't be completely trusted as a QB guru after comparing Taysom Hill to Steve Young.
When I watched Bo Nix at Oregon, I didn’t see the strong-armed, unflappable passer that Payton says he did. Nix had an OK arm, one capable of making most throws, but he didn’t test it out often in Oregon’s run-pass-option-heavy offense. He found open receivers deep into his progression, but he didn’t always look confident in his decision, often taking an extra hitch just to confirm the receiver was open. The windows in the NFL close too fast for indecisiveness. In the preseason, Nix didn’t appear any more comfortable in the pocket. He wasted clean pockets to get outside of them, where he seems to feel more confident in what he’s seeing. What stood out in August was his arm strength while throwing on the move. He can sling it with a sidearm delivery while running in either direction. That, along with decent accuracy, could be enough for Payton to work with while he fixes some of the bigger issues in Nix’s game.
Did Ruiz watch a different preseason than everyone else? Broncos fans are excited... extremely encouraged entering this season and that is because of how good Nix looked in the preseason. Sure, it was against some players who were second and third-string players, but dismissing Nix for the reasons listed above, while not talking much more about what he did well has the makings of this coming back and looking like a terrible rankings list.
Betting against Bo Nix with Sean Payton as his coach is a risky choice
Ruiz is not a believer in Payton's ability to find quarterbacks and that is his right, but he's also going to be in the minority with that take.
It has been well-documented that Payton wanted Nix all along and he jumped on him with the No. 12 overall pick. Nix can run his offense, he can do all of the things that Russell Wilson couldn't do last year.
Payton's reputation as a quarterback guru is definitely on the line with Nix, but the coach seems incredibly confident with that scenario. If you're a betting NFL fan, the smart money would be on what Nix will do with Payton as his coach, and the bad bet would be placing any kind of value on Nix being the worst starting quarterback in the league.
The idea of placing Nix at the bottom of that list will not age well.
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