Phillip Dorsett went one way and the ball went the other.
During an 11-on-11 session at Broncos minicamp last week, the veteran wide receiver was in position to catch a ball from rookie quarterback Bo Nix near the line of scrimmage, but the pass sailed low and behind the intended target. By the time Dorsett looked up, Nix was walking toward him. The quarterback was patting his hand against his chest, the universal “my fault” signal. Nix then explained where he went wrong, what he saw from the defense and how they’d be sure to connect the next time.
Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi noted at the end of minicamp that the rookie quarterback “doesn’t make the same mistake twice very often,” and the brief interaction with Dorsett was a window into how Nix goes about trying to eliminate repeated miscues.
“There is a maturity level,” Lombardi said. “I think when you draft a guy who is a little bit older, you hope that that comes with it, but he’s certainly shown that. … You can feel his 61 games played in college. With experience, a calmness comes along with it. So he certainly doesn’t feel like a rookie.”
The 24-year-old quarterback wasn’t facing Maxx Crosby or Chris Jones or Khalil Mack during the Broncos’ offseason program. Evaluations of players this time of year, particularly rookies, come with a host of caveats. Preseason games in August, and even the intense training camp practices preceding them, will provide a more accurate barometer of Nix’s progress than the 12 offseason practices he had with veterans in May and June.
But Nix’s first two months as a pro have been nonetheless reaffirming, a strong first impression rooted in his ability, quarterbacks coach Davis Webb said, to retain information and use it to make necessary adjustments.
“With his sense of maturity, it almost feels like he’s been here before,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said of Nix.
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Not appearing overwhelmed is an important first step for any rookie quarterback, but especially one who has a chance to begin his debut season as a starter. Head coach Sean Payton did not tip his hand about how the three-way competition among Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson will unfold once training camp begins. The coaching staff “will have a plan when we start camp and then we begin to make some decisions relative to reps and all of that,” but whether that means an even, three-way split like the quarterbacks had during OTAs and minicamp is unclear.
It is evident that Nix is still firmly in the mix. His ability to process a hefty portion of the playbook, dizzyingly unwrapped over the past two months, made him appear comfortable in an offense that features many players entering Year 2 in the system.
“The two new players — both Zach and Bo — had a lot of install in a short period of time,” Payton said. “Realistically, in the season, you spend a week on one plan. Here, we are moving. Overall, though, it’s what we saw and what we evaluated (with Nix) and that is encouraging.”
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Nix has had a relentless schedule since his final season at Oregon began last fall. He led the Ducks to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Liberty on New Year’s Day — he had 363 yards passing and five touchdowns in his final college performance — and then sprinted headfirst into the pre-draft process. After being selected by Denver with the 12th pick in late April, he had about a week off before reporting for rookie minicamp and then jumping into the offseason program with the team’s veterans. A brief respite, then, is necessary for Nix over the next week or two.
“It is important that these guys get away,” Payton said.
The pause won’t last long, though. Not for Broncos quarterbacks and skill players who will enter camp in heated position battles. The quarterbacks and receivers will gather in early July for throwing sessions organized by Stidham, the sixth-year veteran who is trying to become a Week 1 starter for the first time in his pro career. It will be an important, chemistry-building period between the receivers and the quarterbacks, one of whom will become Denver’s seventh different season-opening starter in the past nine seasons. That all three quarterbacks will be involved speaks to how the Broncos have tried to nurture a respectful competition at the position.
“We have a good room — we really do — and they’re all meshing well together,” Webb said. “That’s exciting because competition sometimes gets dicey, so we nailed that in the first meeting, (saying), ‘That’s not going to happen here. We’re all going to be rooting each other on.’ We want everyone’s best and then let the coaches decide. No one wants to be in a nasty room or a nasty relationship. So communication is the power behind any successful relationship, and we tried to drill that every day.”
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Communication was one of Nix’s strengths during the offseason program. So, too, was his accuracy. The rookie feasted on a steady diet of short and intermediate throws during OTAs and minicamp, the ball typically fired quickly to those options. There wasn’t much downfield flash from Nix, but he also rarely put the ball in harm’s way. The balance of when to take bigger shots and when to settle for a modest profit will be part of the focus for the rookie as he enters his first training camp.
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“We don’t want to be ‘Checkdown Charlies,’” Webb said. “We want to be aggressive down the field, and if it’s not there, we want to keep moving forward. So I don’t think we have that tendency, I think it’s just being smart with the football. To the naked eye it might look that way, but if you look at what’s going on with protection or down the field, getting a completion sometimes is the only thing you have. Right now, we’re just going through the installs, kind of learning the offense. We have two guys that are brand new to this offense, so kind of the attention is put there.”
The attention from fans when training camp begins will be firmly on Nix. Every indication suggests the competition remains open with all three quarterbacks, but the rookie first-round pick is the future. And if Nix keeps progressing as he did during minicamp, Payton and Denver’s coaching staff will be ready to embrace that future sooner rather than later.
(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)