The Denver Broncos named Bo Nix their starting quarterback for the 2024 season, making official what pretty much everyone already knew was going to happen. Nix is the first rookie to start Week 1 for the Denver Broncos since John Elway back in 1983, so who better to sound off on the news than Elway himself?
Elway was participating in the BMW Championship at the Castle Pines Golf Club and made himself available to answer some questions. Obviously, he was asked about his thoughts on Bo Nix being named the starter, and he gave a really insightful response.
John Elway talks about Bo Nix being named the Denver Broncos' starting quarterback:
— Mile High Sports (@MileHighSports) August 21, 2024
“He’s going to have his ups and downs as a young guy—I had plenty of those—but I think he’s got all the talent, will, and mind strength to be able to do it.”#BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/hMg6kQzLuv
"I think that obviously Bo is tremendously talented. He's played a lot of college football, so he's ahead of the curve when it comes to that. I think Sean Payton will be great for him and the offense they're going to run to protect him...Bo's a mature guy...
I think Sean knows how to develop quarterbacks. I think he'll keep him in the right situations and not put too much on him, and allow him to continue to improve week in and week out.
Bo's going to see it, it's a big jump from preseason to regular season. But I'm sure he'll handle that well. He's going to have his ups and downs as a young guy which, I had plenty of those, but I think that he's got all the talent in the world and the mind, strength to be able to do it."
- Broncos Hall of Famer John Elway
That last little bit there from Elway is really my favorite part of what he said. It's a big jump from preseason to regular season...
It's true, obviously. Not just in terms of the talent level you're facing on a consistent basis, but in terms of what defenses are throwing at you coverage-wise and what kinds of blitz packages you're going to see. Things in the preseason are typically pretty vanilla, all things considered, but that's not to diminish what Nix has shown us so far. It's just a good forewarning from Elway that the game does, in fact, change when you get to the regular season.
Luckily for the Broncos, they are undoubtedly throwing stuff at Nix in practices and he did extremely well against the Packers' starters during the team's joint practice with Green Bay. But Elway's warning here is worth filing away and remembering for later. Nix is going to have his "ups and downs" as a rookie and Broncos Country is going to have to afford him the opportunity to go through those without getting booed off the field.
Expectations have certainly changed a little bit for this team since Nix has put forth a really strong showing and the franchise is clearly confident they've found their guy, but that doesn't change the fact that Nix is a rookie.
Regarding Elway, it's kind of crazy to think that we're now four years removed from him being the general manager of the Broncos. Elway's last draft as GM of the Broncos was in 2020, and even though he was around as a sounding board for George Paton in 2021, Elway's role in building the roster at that point was minimal, if anything. During his time with the Broncos as an executive, I think you can argue that Elway assembled arguably the greatest offense and greatest defense in NFL history.
But he couldn't find a franchise QB through the NFL Draft, even though he threw a first-round pick and two second-round picks at the position.
Bo Nix can hopefully end the carousel that was so difficult for Elway to navigate as GM.