"They're in the market for a quarterback": NFL's Brian Baldinger details Denver Broncos' draft plans

Sean Payton & the Denver Broncos are looking for a quarterback after releasing Russell Wilson. Among the quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft, who fits what Sean Payton is looking for the most? Is it USC's Caleb Williams, UNC's Drake Maye, LSU's Jayden Daniels, Washington's Michael Penix Jr, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy or Oregon's Bo Nix? NFL Network's Brian Baldinger joins the DNVR Broncos Podcast to discuss what Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos are looking for in the 2024 NFL Draft.
#nfl #broncos #denverbroncos
#jjmccarthy #calebwilliams #drakemaye #bonix #michaelpenixjr #jaydendaniels #baldysbreakdowns

[@jakerogers1466]

What would it take to trade up in the draft after using the 12th on bowers and pairing him with penix or Nix (13-20 range)?

[@lastpme]

With the focus being on quarterback I would not be surprised if Denver takes the best player available.

[@Guitar_Smasher]

Stay at 12 and snag Bo Nix. Don't wait, he may be gone! And don't trade PS2!

[@78LedHead]

Word. I stand with you.

[@78LedHead]

Baldy pretty much described Bo Nix, but said Caleb Williams. Williams is a freak, Bo isn't, but Bo does all those things he mentioned damn well.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

Bo Nix will take a minimum of two years before he's ready to play in the NFL.

[@78LedHead]

@@user-zr4km5ns8t Bo Nix will end up being as pro ready as any other QB in this draft, if not more so. You'll see. No one has the experience he has, and no one has the blend of accuracy/touch/ball placement/AND athleticism, which some people seem to forget about.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

@@78LedHead Apparently you're not familiar with the system that Nix played in for 4 of the 5 years he was in college so let me fill you in. At Auburn for 2 years he was playing for Gus Malzahn, the guy who pioneered the HUNH (Hurry Up-No Huddle) concept. That philosophy is designed to keep defenses from adjusting personnel & when combined with the college spread & Air Raid concepts that Malzahn also used, it's one of the very worst in terms of preparing QBs for the NFL. But it doesn't stop there. When Malzahn moved on from Auburn Bryan Harsin replaced him & tried to bring a more pro-style set of concepts to Auburn. Nix did not take to it well. Not only did he get benched, but he also had his worst year & when the 2021 season ended, he bolted for Oregon to follow his former OC Kenny Dillingham. On the way out the door he described playing for Harsin in his offense "a nightmare". At Oregon he once again played in the same system, first for Dillingham, then for Max Stein, who took over for Dillingham after he got the UCF job. Stein played the system NIx wanted. If you want to see an example of another QB who came out of this system, look no further than Denver's forgotten QB Jarrett Stidham. He played in it for Malzahn just like Nix did for two seasons. In fact, he was better in it than Nix was across the board. Unlike Nix however, who stayed in college with that system, Stidham went to the Patriots following is 3rd year of eligibility. What the Patriots coaches said later, was that nothing he learned at Auburn was in any way helpful for him in the NFL. He essentially came into the NFL from the same system Nix did as a totally unprepared QB. He sat behind Brady for a year, spent a second year with Belichick & a 3rd year with Josh McDaniels. Then along came Sean Payton, who praised him as knowing how to read an NFL defense. In other words, it took him THREE seasons to undo the damage he got from playing in the same system Nix did...and he spent those three years in probably the best QB environment possible. Whether Nix has that level of NFL coaching or not will impact how fast he's ready, but don't be surprised if he either has to sit for a minimum of 2 years, probably 3...or if he's never ready if he goes somewhere where they can't develop a young QB. Playing 5 years didn't help Nix, it hindered him from getting prepared for the NFL.

[@78LedHead]

The Broncos don't need an offensive lineman? I feel nervous saying that. Have you seen the depth chart at Center? Forsythe could be something, but we have no idea. Wattenberg is a body. Mustipher is a slightly more experienced body. I wouldn't count a Center out of our draft plans, should it fall that way. One thing I know for certain about Sean Payton? He wants that interior OL to be ELITE. He hyper-focuses on it. Let's get Bo, baby! Let's keep some draft capital and roll with Bo! I guarantee Sean Payton could work some magic with Bo! Bo's a 24 year old grown man. I think it works in his favor, plus there's no rule he can't get better from here. It's all speculation until it happens.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

I like your idea about getting a center. Jackson Powers-Johnson would be a monster next to Quin Meinerz. Bo Nix however, is two years away from being to play in the NFL. He's being way over-hyped. I make it a 75% chance that Payton will start Stidham in 2024...and maybe beyond that.

[@philcorneau2541]

He fits better with the Patriots, then...

[@Jim_Buffett3]

Man as much as I don't want to trade PS2, my favorite Bronco... if we don't fully trust Sean Payton to draft and develop a QB in the next two offseason, Surtain will become a wasted asset. We will never win or be competitive in this Mahomes division without a star QB. Period. If we wait another year or two to get our guy, we are going to have to (in the meantime) let PS2 and Sauce reset the corner market, well above $20MM a year, and have him take up 10% of our cap alone! And for what? To field a non-competitive, 7-10 team? If we have a guy based on Payton's system, go get him at ALL costs. Do whatever we need to, in order to outbid Minnesota. If we don't have a guy, take BPA or trade back. But I strongly question if we should be building around PS2 aif we're still a year or two away from even attempting to trot out a decent QB.

[@philcorneau2541]

They could trade Bowles for a 2nd rounder after.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

You might get a 4th for Bolles, nothing more.

[@78LedHead]

Joe Alt isn't going to be there at 12. Bank on that. He might be this eras Joe Thomas, like he's really that good. Some team before 12 is going to covet him, possibly the Titans. The Jets? The Giants? The Bears? The Falcons even? Any team with even the slightest need at T will jump on Joe Alt. He's a generational player, and a bookend for a decade +, forget about it.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

The OT with the highest upside in this draft is Amarius Mims. He's also a bust risk since he's barely played, but as far as sheer physical talent goes, nobody is above him.

[@78LedHead]

@@user-zr4km5ns8t Maybe so, but with Alt it goes well beyond just physical talent (and he has plenty of that). Dude is a full grown man already, and has the intangibles to go along with the physical talent. Perhaps not as freakish as Mims, but his blend will translate well.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

He doesn't know if they're in the market for a QB or not...neither do any of the rest of these commentators. Payton & his team know..that's it.

[@GarrettHill_]

I’m pretty sure the most average NFL fan could tell you that Denver is 1000% in the market for a QB lmao. Only Sean & the Broncos can tell you if they’re going to draft one or not though.

[@user-zr4km5ns8t]

@@GarrettHill_ I'm sure they could too, because the "average NFL fan" does no actual research. I on the other hand...do. Sean Payton has already given us clues as to his intentions. Payton has gone on the record as saying that he likes what he sees in Jarred Stidham & signed him because he saw him as a potential future starter. But he also went beyond that. He went out of his way on at least two occasions to praise Stidham as being a guy with a fast processor, a high football IQ & a QB who knows how to read defenses. This is a coach who rarely ever praises his players, especially those he has not yet had on the field. Those things he entioned are the exact traits that he saw in Drew Brees when he signed him in 2006. When Payton signed Brees, nobody in the rest of the NFL had any inkling that he was a future HOF quarterback & in point of fact, nobody else was interested in him. He was nowhere near the player he became. In 2006 Drew Brees was coming off a down season & had only one really good year on his five year resume. He was also coming off possibly career ending shoulder surgery. He failed his physical in Miami & only Payton offered him a free agency contract. One more thing...at that time Payton was a rookie HC with possibly the worst team in the NFL. He had the #2 pick in the draft which mean he had his choice of any of the three hotshot rookies expected to be franchise level QBs & all were considered top 10 picks. Payton ignored all three of them & selected Reggie Bush. History prove him to be correct. Bush would later be a Super Bowl star for Payton. We have a very similar situation now. When Payton arrived in Denver the very first move he made was to go sign Jarrett Stidham. If you do some research on Stidham you will discover that in 2017 he was considered by NFL scouts as probably the #2 QB in the 2018 NFL draft. Only a down year in 2018 during which he was surrounded by a terrible team kept him from being a top 10 pick. In the last 4 years Jarrett Stidham has been sitting at the feet of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels & Sean Payton. But when he first arrived at the Patriots, the New England coaches said that nothing he learned in college at Auburn had any value in preparing him for the NFL. He was as unprepared as it gets. On the the list of rookie first round QBs that are possibly available to Denver, none of them have had anywhere close to the training that Stidham has now had, & all of them have questions about their NFL preparation in college. When asked directly about these guys, Payton said that out of the 6 who are likely first rounders, he thinks maybe 2 will make it. We know he considers one of those two to be Caleb Wiliams. That means he sees only one other franchise level QB in the remaining five. He also said he won't draft one in round one unless he's in love with him. What are the odds of that? Less than 20% since there are 5 others & at least 3 will go well above where Denver drafts. What else did Payton do in the draft when he got to the Saints? Between 2006-2009 when the Saints won the Super Bowl, Payton added 16 multi-year starters to the roster either through the draft or with players he obtained from draft choices in trades. Eight of them were linemen. When he got to Denver he was asked what he would be doing first to rebuild the Broncos roster. Payton said he would be rebuilding both side of the line of scrimmage in the trenches. Expect him to probably take a lineman in the first round of this draft...not a QB.