The Denver Broncos believe they landed with their franchise quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft in Bo Nix. But what if, in an alternate football reality, Nix ended up elsewhere?
Say Nix landed with the New York Giants with the sixth pick overall instead of Malik Nabers? That's how CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso would see a 2024 re-draft unfolding.
In Trepasso's re-draft, the Chicago Bears take Jayden Daniels, with the Washington Commanders drafting Caleb Williams. Drake Maye still goes third overall to New England, with edge rusher Jared Verse going to the Arizona Cardinals and offensive tackle Joe Alt staying as the No. 5 overall pick to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Giants then take Nix off the board.
“Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are ecstatic to finally be able to select a quarterback in the draft! Nix has rawness to his game but proved in 2024 he can be a point guard-type who plays well within a YAC-based offense," Trepasso wrote.
After watching Nix's 2024 season, ‘rawness’ is not a word that comes to mind, as he looked like a veteran, but he would make a ton of sense for the Giants in a re-draft.
However, due to the Giants' lack of weapons and offensive line issues, Nix's year-one results probably would have been different than what the Broncos got. Most of the Giants offense in 2024 came through the rookie Nabers, who was their actual pick.
Without Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton would be New York's top two receivers. While the Broncos don’t have great weapons, they were better than what the Giants had outside of Nabers. Denver's offensive line was also significantly better than New York's.
So with Nix off the board, who did Trepasso have the Broncos taking at No. 12 overall?
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
"Without Nix on the roster in this alternate universe, the Broncos roll the dice on McCarthy, and trust he can be an extension of Sean Payton's mind on the field," Trepasso wrote.
There was buzz about the Broncos not being high on McCarthy before the draft, as well as rumors that Sean Payton coveted him. However, if you’re doing a re-draft, it's hard to give the Broncos a player who we know missed the entire season. While it's hard to pass up on one of those receivers, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. would make more sense for the Broncos in a re-draft than McCarthy because he was healthy and saw the field in Atlanta.
For what it's worth, in the CBS re-draft, the Tennessee Titans took cornerback Cooper DeJean, the Atlanta Falcons took linebacker Chop Robinson, the Bears took Malik Nabers, the New York Jets took tight end Brock Bowers, and the Minnesota Vikings took Quinyon Mitchell before the Broncos were on the clock.
Based on the 2024 rookie class' performance, the top names left on the board when Denver goes on the clock in this re-draft were defensive end Braden Fiske, wideouts Marvin Harrison Jr, Brian Thomas, and Ladd McConkey, and cornerback Nate Wiggins, among others.
When you do a redraft, you use what you learned from the players drafted in their rookie seasons as a big part of the calculus. Based on what we've seen from the class, it isn’t sensible to have McCarthy over Penix. Even more than that, passing on Thomas, McConkey, or Harrison and building up the Broncos' receiver corps seems even less rational, with Nix, Daniels, Williams, and Maye off the board.
The good news is that this re-draft is not a reality for Broncos Country. Nix is the quarterback, and he produced a historic rookie season, won 10 games, and led the Broncos back to the playoffs.
