The Denver Broncos got their guy last year when they selected Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall pick in the draft. Sean Payton stated that he got the guy he wanted all along. There were many people out there saying the Broncos “reached” with that pick, but those thoughts look hilarious in hindsight.
Speaking of hindsight, it has a way of presenting some interesting questions. Henry McKenna of FOX Sports recently had a chance to take a look at the New England Patriots firing legendary head coach Bill Belichick last offseason and was able to create quite a scenario had that never taken place. Though it’s completely hypothetical, there is one aspect of it that will catch the eye of Broncos Country.
In his quest to become the winningest head coach in NFL history, McKenna suggests that part of Belichick’s plan would have been to draft Nix. This would come after the team brought back Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator, which happened for real this offseason.
Here was McKenna’s take:
“New York was in love with Drake Maye. Everyone knew that. But after New England selected the North Carolina QB at No. 3 overall last year, it was also clear during Belichick’s in-draft analysis on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he wasn’t in love with Maye. Belichick was, however, effusive (by Belichick’s standards) in praising Oregon QB Bo Nix during that same draft show.
“It looks like he’s pretty — nobody’s NFL-ready — but I’d say of the college quarterbacks, he’s probably pretty close to being NFL-ready,” Belichick said of Nix while chatting with Broncos coach Sean Payton. “And like you said, the best quarterback in the pocket. The best quarterback in the situations. There’s a lot to like about this kid. And he wins.”
So Belichick would figure out how to win the draft — in his own controversial way. (It’s the only way he knew how to run the draft.) Even with a league-wide consensus about the top three quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Maye — Belichick would take an offer from the Giants to move back from No. 3 to sixth overall. In the process, the coach would’ve gotten the No. 6 pick and New York’s 2025 first-rounder, among other assets.”
Suddenly, you can make the argument that, rather than reaching for Nix, the Broncos may have been very fortunate to be able to get him. It seems Belichick saw many of the same great qualities in Nix that Payton saw.
Had that happened, the Broncos would have been left to play the board and take someone like Michael Penix Jr. or wait until one of the later rounds to grab Spencer Rattler. That would have been the best they could do and as of right now, they would probably still be sitting on one of the league’s longest active playoff droughts.
Instead, the Patriots did fire Belichick, who ended up in the college ranks as the head coach at North Carolina, leaving him at No. 3 on the NFL’s all-time wins list, 26 behind Don Shula.
This thought may have never actually come to fruition, but the Broncos and their fans are happy they didn’t have to find out if it would have.
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