In their opening act of the regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense turned in an impressive performance by holding the Atlanta Falcons offense to just ten points while forcing a trio of turnovers. This week, they’ll look to build on that momentum as the squad heads to Denver to take on the Broncos led by rookie first round pick Bo Nix. Head coach Sean Payton is widely regarded as one of the more successful offensive guru’s of his era but he couldn’t make it work with Russell Wilson in 2023, who will be paid handsomely to stand on the opposite sideline this weekend.
So enter Nix, 24-year-old rookie from the University of Oregon. Obviously the Broncos were quite a bit higher on him as a prospect than I was, ranking him as the #51 prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft class. Below was a quick synopsis from my scouting notes during the spring:
“Efficient point guard who can nickel and dime his way down the field. Nix is a fairly well-rounded quarterback, a good athlete with a decent arm, can work quick game concepts and has worked relentlessly to cut down on negative plays to the point where he’s now proven reliable in that regard. He’s an older prospect and an inconsistent processor. With his experience, you can see a path for him to become a starter in a good situation, but his above-average tools and lengthy experience should be enough to make him a long-term backup at worst.”
How has that translated so far?