5.13.24 Football Articles

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Sean Payton on Bo Nix: ‘Like watching a good golfer’

Published: May. 13, 2024, 8:00 a.m.

4–5 minutes

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix passes at rookie minicamp on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Centennial, Colo.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

By

Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

Was Denver Broncos quarterback Sean Payton watching rookie quarterback Bo Nix on the football field or the links this weekend?

“It’s almost like watching a good golfer,” Payton said about Nix at the NFL team’s rookie minicamp on Saturday. “Sometimes when you watch his game over two years, there’s a patience to how he plays, the ball comes out. I don’t want to use the term boring. That’s not the right term. But pretty good decisions with each play, the efficiency and how he’s operating – all of that.”

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Nix got his first work with the Broncos at the minicamp after joining the team as the 12th selection in the NFL Draft on April 25.

“I wish I played golf that way, like I play quarterback,” Nix said on Saturday. “But I think it’s all a part of an operation and preparation, literally kind of dumb it down, make it as simple as possible. Know where your eyes are supposed to go; know where your reads are. Get your eyes on them and then go through it quickly. It’s just preparation, studying and being around, obviously, coaches that are going to teach you the same stuff over and over and over, and just learning it all, and then going out there and doing it on the field.”

A former Pinson Valley High School and Auburn standout, Nix came to Denver after two seasons at Oregon. Nix finished third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 2023, when he set an NCAA FBS single-season record by completing 77.45 percent of his passes and school records with 4,508 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes for the Ducks.

Nix joined Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson as the quarterbacks on Denver’s roster. The second pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Wilson started 33 games for the New York Jets before coming to the Broncos in an offseason trade. Also a former Auburn quarterback, Stidham started the final two games of the 2023 season for Denver.

“We said it to them at the start: All of us are behind,” Payton said about rookie minicamp. “We’re behind the team relative to where they’re at, both from a conditioning standpoint but also mentally. And we’re not going to get there in a day or two days, but the objective is to get there soon in time for training camp. He’s handling the install well. He had a pretty good practice today. He’s grinding through it. He’s doing a good job with it. …

“Oftentimes your first exposure to huddles, snap counts, verbiage – that can be challenging, but I thought he threw it well today.”

Payton is preparing for his 17th season as an NFL head coach and, Nix said, “has built a pedigree to where when he talks, you listen.”

“It’s a day-to-day process,” Nix said. “You got to go from one meeting to one practice to one walkthrough, take them one at a time and just learn as much as you can and just not make the same mistake twice. …

“It’s all about studying. It’s all about taking one play at a time, mastering it, make sure you know the fundamental technique of that play, what the play-caller’s intent is, and essentially they just want to see you go out and execute it. It’s my job as a quarterback to get the play started and get the ball where it’s supposed to be given. A lot of that’s completing passes, run-game operation.

“It can be a lot, but I feel like I’m being taught really well by the coaches. They’re doing a really good job of narrowing everything down and making it simple so I can just get up there and process and play fast.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.