Where can Bo Nix improve his NFL draft stock the most going into the 2023 season at Oregon?
By almost any measure, Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix was outstanding during the 2022 season. He completed almost 72% of his passes, threw for over 3,500 yards and totaled 43 touchdowns (29 passing, 14 rushing) to just 7 interceptions.
It’s hard to ask him to be much better than that. In fact, if it weren’t for an ankle injury that hobbled him for the final three games of the season, Nix likely would have ended up in New York City at the start of December as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy award, while the Ducks had a good chance at making it to the Pac-12 Championship game with a potential shot at getting into the College Football Playoff.
So, how do you take a player like that and ask him to improve? It’s not easy. However, when I had former Oregon QB Joey Harrington on the Sco-ing Long Podcast earlier in the week, I asked him what he thought Nix could still do to elevate his game.
“I don’t know, not get hurt,” Harrington joked. “The only reason that he wasn’t a Heisman contender at the end of the season is because he hurt his ankle, right? H was literally just skyrocketing up and, you know, Oregon was on track to be in the playoff discussion.”
While that’s an easy answer, and one that a lot of fans would have, Harrington was able to dive deeper into the game, using his knowledge not only as a college QB, but an NFL passer who was selected with the No. 3 overall pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2002 NFL Draft.
“There are the little things, you know, like being more consistent from the pocket,” Harrington continued. “There are little things that he did. Not that he was bad from the pocket — he was fantastic from the pocket, right? But you have to be elite if you’re going to be in the NFL. So there are things that he has identified that can help take him from what third or fourth-round pick to a second-round pick.”
The draft status for Nix is likely what played a part in him returning to the Ducks for the 2023 season. There is a belief that he got evaluated as someone who would be selected in the third or fourth round of the draft, but another successful season could see his stock rise, should he be able to clean up a few small things in his game.
“For those of us who are looking at this as a fan, you see the success that he had, right? I mean, was completing 70% of his passes, you know, throwing touchdowns not throwing picks, leading teams to victory, doing it with his legs, doing it with his arm. There is a certain level of, I’ll say leeway at the college level. There’s an amount of leeway that you have where you can make little mistakes and still have success. Or I should say those who are super talented can escape and create plays that aren’t necessarily there in the NFL. And then they’re not often seen by the average fan sitting and watching a game, right? You see a guy take a team down the field and score a touchdown, but the NFL scout sees ‘well why did he have to scramble?’ They’re watching the filming from the all-22 and saying ‘all right, you’ve got Cover 2 here, the middle linebacker is is working strong for the three-receiver side, you need to be throwing that ball over the back of the weak side linebacker, right? That’s the throw I need to see you make.’ And when you don’t make it and instead you scramble out and get the fancy yards and the fancy touchdowns, the scout sees a hesitance to cut that loose. So those are the little details, and honestly, we’re nitpicking. But when you get to this level, that’s the level of pickiness that is involved.”
When a former NFL QB breaks it down for you like that, it certainly makes sense. While we saw a lot of great play from Nix in 2022, there is an understanding that he will be to be better this season if he wants to make it as a QB at the next level. It will certainly be fun to watch him make those adjustments over the coming months.
