Bo Nix Scouting Report
- Watched: Washington (2022), UNC (2022), Utah, Oregon State
- Pros:
- Good athlete, moves very lightly on his feet, can pretty easily get out of trouble with his legs.
- Doesn’t take any hits on his runs; always gets down before the hit comes (albeit with some very awkward looking dives).
- Shows occasional flashes of reading the whole field, but make no mistake, the Oregon offense is largely built around screens, RPOs, and other quick one-read plays.
- Accurate in the short and intermediate windows; on-target %’s compare favorably to the 2021 class (Lawrence, Wilson, Fields, Lance, Mac, etc.).
- Good in the quick game, very little wasted movement on his play-fakes, makes the correct read on RPO/read options and delivers an accurate ball to maximize YAC.
- Takes immaculately good care of the ball, sometimes to the team’s detriment; he very rarely challenged passing windows.
- Cons:
- Often does not step into his throws even with plenty of space to do it.
- Below average accuracy on passes 20+ yards downfield, often underthrowing them.
- Very QB-friendly system at Oregon, nearly 70% of his passes in the games I charted were quick hitters, RPOs, screens, etc.
- Dealing with pressure was a notable issue in his Auburn days and he was never really under pressure in the Oregon games that I charted so no real sense on if that’s improved.
- Will be 24 years old when his rookie season begins.
- General:
- Threw nearly twice as many intermediate passes in the 2023 games that I charted as he did in 2022; potentially some evolution of the offense in his second year.
- I think the only snap he took under center was a QB sneak and he was unsuccessful.
- A rare 5 year starter in college football.
- Overall Take:
- Pro-readiness: 2nd (out of 9)
- Potential: 6th
- Overall: 4th
- Number Grade (out of 100): 77
- I came away from watching Bo Nix’s tape not feeling particularly confident about how he’ll fare in the NFL, and I think a lot of that boils down to the offense that he operated in at Oregon. It is a very QB-friendly system; he wasn’t asked to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage and he generally wasn’t asked to go past his first read. Most plays consisted of a fake handoff and then a quick slant or quick throw to the flats. Those that didn’t fall into that category generally involved him keying in on a LB or a safety, seeing which way they moved off the snap, and then locking onto his first read and throwing a quick pass. Having said that, he showed a bit more evolved play in 2023, particularly in the game against Oregon State: his final regular season game. Against Oregon State, Nix showed flashes of reading the whole field, manipulating LBs and safeties to get them to move where he wanted them to in order to open up intermediate passing windows, and some really impressive throws under duress. He certainly has the physical tools to be a good QB at the next level; good, effortless athleticism, a strong arm, and a quick throwing motion, but I really wish I could have seen him show it off more often. He will be 24 years old when his rookie season begins, and yet his tape forces you to really project the type of player he could be without much confidence. His tape brings back memories of Ryan Tannehill’s days at Texas A&M, where he too showed impressive athleticism (you may have heard this once or twice, but he began his college career as a WR!!!), a good arm, and a tendency to rely a ton on quick hitters and check downs. Ultimately, I feel like I have to give Nix a decent grade based on the physical tools, and in the very least, I think he could thrive in systems like Sean Payton’s and Kyle Shanahan’s where they do most of the work for the QB and just need the QB to execute, but given his age/experience level and the questionable projection, I would tend to shy away from drafting Nix where he’ll likely be selected (Early on day 2).
- NFL Comparisons:
- Most Likely Comp: Jarrett Stidham
- Peak Comp: Ryan Tannehill
Draft QBs 