The Denver Broncos made a bold move to cut Russell Wilson earlier this offseason, and the rookie QB they replaced him with may already be a better passer. The statistics that Wilson put up for the Denver Broncos in 2023 most definitely did not tell the entire story. Watching the Broncos offense at times was like watching paint dry.
Or it was like watching your child spill a glass of apple juice all over your new carpet. Anyway, the Broncos offense was quite inefficient in 2023. The team simply did not have a consistent passing game, and that was due to Russell Wilson. For Wilson, in 2023, much of what he did was either throwing it deep to Marvin Mims Jr or Courtland Sutton, or checking it down to one of the running backs.
All in all, Wilson threw for 26 touchdowns against eight interceptions, and his passer rating was near 100. Many NFL teams would have taken that type of production from their QB, but the issue for Denver was that much of what you may have seen in the box score was the equivalent to empty calories.
Denver cutting Wilson and absorbing an $85 million dead cap hit spread across two seasons is a huge indictment on Wilson and his abilities as a passer in the NFL and the Broncos own thoughts on their former quarterback. The team pivoted to Bo Nix in the 2024 NFL Draft, and while he is a rookie, it's clear that he's already a better quarterback.
We can say with almost 100% certainly that Bo Nix is a much better fit in the offense than Russell Wilson was, and sometimes it's about finding the great fit rather than just finding the name, if that makes sense.
Bo Nix has run a similar type of offense during his times in college, and Sean Payton has already spoken glowingly about Nix, comparing him to a good golfer. And if you think about it, it's pretty black and white. The team just got done choosing Bo Nix over Russell Wilson. Doesn't that tell you pretty definitively that they think Nix is better?
Some Broncos fans are rightfully a bit worried if Bo Nix can develop into a franchise QB, but just based on what the Broncos had at QB in 2023 and the fit within the offense, it's clear that Bo Nix is a better QB than Russell Wilson at this point.