Our Oregon Ducks football program lost some huge pieces of the team’s identity this past offseason, and it’s rare that you can say the team looks completely fine after losses at quarterback at WR1. Fortunately, Dan Lanning immediately got on the horn and turned this team around in the offseason. Now, we look to the league and how players of this past year will be able to dominate at the next level.
While Bo Nix revitalized this program throughout the past two years as the most accurate passer in team history, he’s moved on to the pros and has to do the same thing. Denver’s head coach Sean Payton spent over a decade coaching Drew Brees in New Orleans to become one of the most prolific passers in NFL history.
Now, Nix follows in his footsteps as the next protégé to fill as big of shoes as you can. The Russell Wilson experiment didn’t work after Brees with Payton, and since Peyton Manning left in 2016, Denver is still searching for a top quarterback to take to the team to the promised land. Despite Zach Wilson being added in the offseason as a potential bridge quarterback, Nix has a secret weapon that has not been considered enough in the offseason.
Bo Nix joins the Broncos on the practice fields in OTAs – Via Twitter (@Ducks_Wire)
Beyond Nix being the future of the Ducks at the next level, we have another familiar face joining him on the roster: Troy Franklin. As much as Nix becoming a force in Denver would be FANTASTIC for the future of the Ducks’ recruiting, Franklin could almost make a bigger impact as a skill position player translating to the next level. Imagine a league where the Ducks have a top-10 receiver in the NFL, AND a top-10 quarterback? Or even two quarterbacks at the upper echelon of elite talent, with both Herbert and Nix repping the O on their chest after some dominant seasons in Autzen.
What does Nix starting this season do for the Ducks in the future? Can you ever see Nix rivaling Herbert, or is his ceiling lower in Sean Payton’s system vs Herbert in Jim Harbaugh’s system? Let us know in the FishDuck Forum with decorum.
Go Ducks!
Alex Heining
Los Angeles, California
Top Photo By: Craig Strobeck
Alex Heining is an Oregon alumni from the graduate class of 2021. After studying sports business and media studies, he has moved into the field of digital marketing as a copywriter and content manager in the Los Angeles area. Still, he loves his Ducks and goes to local high school games all over the Los Angeles and Orange County area to check out new recruits of the future (and a SoFi game or two with the pros). On any given Saturday, expect to find him doing martial arts, playing the guitar, or screaming at the tv over a missed holding penalty.