Coach, former QB share warnings for Bo Nix ahead of Broncos debut

Many correctly assumed shortly after Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton made Bo Nix the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft that Payton would start Nix for this Sunday's regular-season opener at a Seattle Seahawks side that has Mike Macdonald serving as its first-year head coach. 

Mike Sanford was the offensive coordinator at Minnesota when Macdonald was Michigan's defensive coordinator in 2021 and, thus, knows a little bit about what Nix can expect to see at Lumen Field on Sunday afternoon. 

"I've learned a lot about Mike Macdonald from when we were both in the Big Ten," Sanford explained during a recent conversation with Jeff Legwold of ESPN. "He goes out and studies people, and his roots are with some of the most creative blitzers — (coaches) Jim Johnson, Chuck Pagano, Dean Pees. He just has a crazy catalog of ways to mess with the eyes of the quarterback, and I'm sure he's thinking, 'How can I make Bo Nix's first day as an NFL starter one of the most difficult ones of his football life?'"

Pro Football Focus named Nix to its preseason all-rookie team after the 24-year-old completed 23-of-30 passes for 205 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a pair of exhibition appearances. As Ricky Doyle of NESN shared, however, legendary head coach Bill Belichick reminded fans last month that signal-callers often see only "a handful of coverages" and defenses that "are very basic" during preseason action. 

According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, rookie quarterbacks who started season-opening matchups tallied a combined 0-7-1 record over the past five campaigns. Sam Darnold is the last first-year quarterback to win a Week 1 start, a feat he achieved back in 2018. 

"My first start? Four picks," former Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer recalled while speaking with Legwold. "...But I look at Bo Nix, and he has football knowledge coming in now it took me years in the league to get. These guys are on whiteboards now with gurus and coaches in high school. He's so much more ready than I was, or than a lot of guys were."

As of Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Broncos as six-point underdogs for Sunday's game against Macdonald's Seahawks. That same outlet listed Nix fourth among the betting favorites at +1000 odds to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award for this season.