2023-2024 NFL Season (2 Viewers)

[Scott Merryfield]

The Broncos taking Nix at 12 is more understandable. Denver's next pick does not come until pick 76 in round three, so if they did not take Nix at 12 they would be biting their nails hoping he fell to them in round three or they could work a trade up to get him. So, huge risk that someone else could grab Nix before they got their shot.

Personally, I wouldn't have taken Nix even with a 3rd round pick. If I had to put money on which 1st round QB busts, Nix would be the easy choice. Denver fell into the trap that teams do too often, reaching for a bad QB prospect in the first round because they are afraid there will not be one available in the later rounds. Teams should show more discipline and just take a solid prospect at another position instead of wasting the pick on a QB destined to fail.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Since we have to wait and see how all these draft picks pan out it does not make much sense to grade the draft but if there was a winner last night, just in terms of how the draft fell for them, it was the Vikings. They got the QB they wanted and only had to trade up one spot to do so, and then they got one of the best defensive players in the draft with their second first round pick. They got everything they wanted and did not need to give up a bunch of picks to another team to trade up into the top 5 to do it. A great night for the Vikings. They have to be thrilled.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Personally, I wouldn't have taken Nix even with a 3rd round pick. If I had to put money on which 1st round QB busts, Nix would be the easy choice. Denver fell into the trap that teams do too often, reaching for a bad QB prospect in the first round because they are afraid there will not be one available in the later rounds. Teams should show more discipline and just take a solid prospect at another position instead of wasting the pick on a QB destined to fail.

Yeah, I mean Nix was rated well until he got into all of the stuff leading up to the draft. He was terrible at the Senior Bowl, unimpressive at the combine, his stock just kept falling. By the time we got to the draft, no team was clamoring for him and it seemed nobody wanted him in the first round. He had fallen to a likely 3rd round pick.

Payton had make clear he liked the kid though and so people did think all along he was on the Broncos radar. I feel like they really could not go into the season with the top two guys being Stidham and Wilson though, and when the other 5 QBs had already come off the board in the top 10 picks, well, it kind of forced the Broncos hand, they had to take Nix.

I mean, yeah, I would not have taken him there, there were so many other great prospects available at that point because 5 teams took QBs that they should have drafted one of the top rated players, instead they took probably a 3rd round guy with the 12th overall pick in a draft where every top defensive player, and a bunch of great offensive players were still on the board.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Six QBs going in the top 12 picks, with two of those QBs really being guys that probably should not have been drafted where they were, tells you all you need to know about how teams feel about next year's QB class and how desperate teams are to land a QB.

Penix and Nix are in good spots to develop into something though because both come in with a chance to sit for a while and learn. Nix gets to work with Payton, who gets so much credit for bringing out the best in Drew Brees. So, you never know.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Six QBs going in the top 12 picks, with two of those QBs really being guys that probably should not have been drafted where they were, tells you all you need to know about how teams feel about next year's QB class and how desperate teams are to land a QB.

Penix and Nix are in good spots to develop into something though because both come in with a chance to sit for a while and learn. Nix gets to work with Payton, who gets so much credit for bringing out the best in Drew Brees. So, you never know.

I don’t have a high opinion about Payton as some other people. It will be interesting to see how he does with Wilson and Nix now.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Since we have to wait and see how all these draft picks pan out it does not make much sense to grade the draft but if there was a winner last night, just in terms of how the draft fell for them, it was the Vikings. They got the QB they wanted and only had to trade up one spot to do so, and then they got one of the best defensive players in the draft with their second first round pick. They got everything they wanted and did not need to give up a bunch of picks to another team to trade up into the top 5 to do it. A great night for the Vikings. They have to be thrilled.

I heard one sports talk host that’s been a Vikings fan his whole life that would disagree with you. He’s talking about refuting his Vikings fandom. He absolutely hates what they did at QB.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Wow! Bo Nix is only six months younger than Zach Wilson.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I wonder which of these six drafted QBs is going to flop with their team? Freaking Falcons didn’t make any sense tonight.

Well, if you go with the odds, probably at least half of the 6 QBs taken never become solid starters, and if the teams are lucky, maybe two of them are franchise QBs. They all have some big questions and it will depend greatly on how they are coached and how they adapt to running an NFL offense.

Maye probably steps into the worst offense, the most questionable coaching situation, and a team with a roster loaded with holes. Yes, he brings some hope that the Patriots have a QB for the future, but man do they have work to do around him. That offense was a disaster last season and Maye is not a fix for that alone.

Williams walks into a situation where they have now stacked the offense with weapons around him. He's in a good spot in terms of the talent on the roster. If he can cope with the adjusting to the speed of the game, see the field well, and operate an NFL offense, he should help the Bears contend for the division in year one.

Daniels, I don't know, his start may be rocky but he was the guy Kingsbury wanted and he got him. The big worry is how much he will run and how much he tries to protect himself when he does. He's got a skill set that will give defensive coordinators nightmares. He looks to me to be a better version of Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts. I think he just is a better thrower of the football than those guys. It remains to be seen though if he can make the transition to the NFL. Hopefully, after the stuff where he said he did not want to go to Washington, he stows the attitude and puts his head down and plays football.

McCarthy also steps into a pretty good spot with the Vikings. They have talent around him, they are in a division where they can compete and I think the main drawback will be they are going to want the kid to play right away. So, it will be trial by fire for him.

Penix has the luxury that he can sit this year, his team wants him to sit this year, there is no pressure on him at all. If things go right, we won't be judging his play for another season or two. So, have to kind of count this as a win for Penix.

Nix, well, he gets Payton to work with, people think Payton is a QB guru, so as you have already said Robert, we are going to see what kind of QB coach Payton is. Nix was a guy that Payton wanted, so he's now got two first round QBs on the roster, it's all on him. I would not expect to see Nix starting out of the gate, but I would think that Payton can make the QB competition there intense and if someone can turnaround Wilson, it should be Sean. We'll see. Honestly, the best case for Nix is if he never has to start a game this season but you also have to look at the Broncos QB room now as very fluid. Any one of those guys could be the starter from week to week.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I heard one sports talk host that’s been a Vikings fan his whole life that would disagree with you. He’s talking about refuting his Vikings fandom. He absolutely hates what they did at QB.

Well, sure, I think fans can be unhappy with the QB pick but the team really wanted McCarthy. They were going to try to trade up into the top 5 to get him, that would probably have been a big mistake had they done that and they would have lost out on drafting a top defensive prospect with their second 1st round pick. So, in terms of what the team wanted to do, they did it, got all they wanted, and did not have to sacrifice a bunch to do it.

I don't know how good McCarthy will be, some people say his ceiling is that he will be a player a lot like Kirk Cousins, which is ironic. Teams loved him when they interviewed him though. I mean, they had little going on at QB with Sam Darnold penciled in as the starter. That's the guy McCarthy has to beat to win the job. That's why I think he may be starting when the Vikings open the season.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, sure, I think fans can be unhappy with the QB pick but the team really wanted McCarthy. They were going to try to trade up into the top 5 to get him, that would probably have been a big mistake had they done that and they would have lost out on drafting a top defensive prospect with their second 1st round pick. So, in terms of what the team wanted to do, they did it, got all they wanted, and did not have to sacrifice a bunch to do it.

I don't know how good McCarthy will be, some people say his ceiling is that he will be a player a lot like Kirk Cousins, which is ironic. Teams loved him when they interviewed him though. I mean, they had little going on at QB with Sam Darnold penciled in as the starter. That's the guy McCarthy has to beat to win the job. That's why I think he may be starting when the Vikings open the season.

Vikings fans are similar to Jets fans. They’re a beaten fanbase.