How does Bo Nix fit with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos?

The Oregon Offense

The biggest knock on Nix isn’t his fault.

Nix played in a unique offensive system at Oregon. Much of what he was asked to do for the Ducks might not translate to the NFL.

So what is the Oregon offense?

Oregon recruited better than any team in the Pac-12. They had better athletes than their competition in 90% of their games. Sometimes by a wide margin.

The Ducks took advantage of this by emphasizing getting the ball into their playmakers’ hands and letting them do the majority of the work.

That was wide receiver Troy Franklin. His name will be called sometime during Day 2 of the draft. Speedy running back Bucky Irving could also hear his name on Friday. He may have been the top receiving back in the country. The Ducks had plenty of other speedy options, too.

To make use of their speed advantage, Oregon ran a bunch of screens.

When they had a numbers advantage on one side of the field, they often took advantage with bubble screens, like this one…

The Ducks could also run a screen when defenders lined up too far off the ball…

Oregon created leverage with its speed, too.

In this clip, a receiver runs in motion across the formation, creating a footrace with a cornerback playing man coverage. He gains enough separation to turn upfield and pick up five yards.

The next clip is the same idea, but it’s the running back racing a linebacker in man coverage to the edge.

The Ducks also loved curls to receivers when cornerbacks lined up too far off the ball. It’s another way to get the ball into a playmaker’s hands quickly and let him work in space.

Oregon also runs traditional West Coast short passing concepts, like curl flat. The inside receiver runs a flat route. The outside receiver runs a curl. Either the flat gains leverage or the curl is sitting in space.

They ran counters off of this concept, like having the flat receiver cut back inside to take advantage of overpursuing defenders.

All of this is to say that the Oregon passing attack is built on quick game. Oftentimes the reads are pre-snap. If not, they’re usually pretty simple.

Nix posted spectacular numbers in his senior season, but his job wasn’t always difficult. More than 75% of his completions came less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. His average depth of target was the lowest of any of the first-round quarterbacks.

None of these plays above deserve praise on its own. They’re all simple. And there were dozens more in the games I watched.

But Nix deserves praise for his batting average on the quick, easy throws. Quarterbacks drafted earlier, notably Drake Maye, aren’t as consistently accurate as Nix. Of all the quarterbacks in the draft, Nix is the guy you want to run your quick game. He has a quick release. He plays with rhythm. He’s accurate. He’s consistent. The attention to detail is the key.

And if you’re playing for Nix and you don’t have that attention to detail—say, you sit down when you’re supposed to run to the flat—he’s going to hold you accountable.

Remind you of anybody?

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