ENGLEWOOD, Colo — One statistic points out why Sean Payton disliked having Russell Wilson as his quarterback and why the head coach is excited about now having Bo Nix.
Sacks.
Payton does not suffer quarterbacks who take a lot of sacks. This intolerance was revealed in multiple statements he made in recent weeks.
At the NFL owners’ meetings in late-March, Payton was asked to identify areas his offense must address in order to score more points in 2024.
"No. 1, we can’t take as many sacks," Payton said from his breakfast table in Orlando. "If you looked at any of the data relative to what it does for your drives, I think that was a big thing that hurt us a year ago."
Wilson took 45 sacks for Payton in 15 games last season, 3.0 per game. The Broncos ranked 19th in the NFL with 21.0 points per game. It was the statistically-worst offensive production in Payton’s 16-season head coach coaching career.
Wilson does other things well. He improvises with the best of them, throws a good deep ball and is a competitive son of a gun, often making big plays when trailing in the fourth quarter. He took sacks for 10 seasons in Seattle, too, averaging 43 a year, but still won and won big.
He's just not going to win for the Broncos because Wilson's biggest flaw is he hangs on to the ball longer than most quarterbacks. Wilson took a whopping 55 sacks in 2022, his first year in Denver. In his two seasons with ther Broncos, Wilson was sacked 100 times -- most in the NFL, one more than the Bears' Justin Fields' 99 -- in 30 games. The Broncos released Wilson two months ago even though they will pay $37.79 million of his salary this year for him to play with Pittsburgh. Fields will also play for Pittsburgh. The Steelers must have a lot of confidence in their offensive line.
Nix, meanwhile, was sacked just 10 times combined the past two years at Oregon.
Five sacks with 409 pass attempts in 2022.
Five sacks with 470 attempts last year.
Yes, pass rushers get there much quicker in the NFL. Nix will get sacked more than 5 times in his rookie season this year. Still.
"The one thing over the years, if you study it closely, guys that get sacked a lot in college tend to get sacked a lot in the NFL," Payton said. "Sometimes, that might be processing."
During Payton’s long run of coaching up the offense in New Orleans, quarterback Drew Brees never finished in the top 12 in sacks taken. Brees averaged just 22 sacks a year against an average of 583 pass attempts in his 15 seasons with Payton as his coach.
When it comes to protection, the offensive line can be overrated. It's about how quickly the quarterback gets rid of the ball. Peyton Manning could have played without an offensive front and he still would have got the ball off.
Payton may have seen at least one Brees-like trait in Nix.
"He processes fast," Payton said of Nix. "Sack reductions sometimes is the ability to process and deliver."
When Nix reports to the Broncos’ rookie minicamp Thursday, he will need to work on processing and getting rid of the ball quickly after taking the snap from under center and shuffling through those 3-, 5- and 7-step drops. He rarely took a snap from under center during his two seasons at Oregon.
But better believe Nix spent the two weeks between hearing his name as the Broncos’ No. 12 overall draft selection on April 25 and the start rookie minicamp on May 9 getting himself prepared.
"My plan is to get in great shape, study hard so when I get back I don’t have to think a whole lot, I can just react and play and have fun," Nix said in an interview April 26 with 9NEWS. "Enjoy this moment, enjoy the experience."
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