Do you trust the Denver Broncos? Because I don’t. Not since winning Super Bowl 50, I have had no reason to. Ever since Peyton Manning retired, the Broncos have been so far beyond clueless at evaluating the quarterback position, it has driven them into irrelevancy. You used to be good? What the hell happened? Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Drew Lock and Russell Wilson.

While I respect the offensive mind of head coach Sean Payton, who used to be a thorn in my side twice annually in the NFC South for well over a decade, his new team is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to drafting a quarterback. They may be one of the handful of teams who is supposedly obsessed with Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, but he is not falling to them at No. 12 overall.

With four quarterbacks likely off the board in the first six picks, what is Denver to do? Should the Broncos trade up, take the next best quarterback available at No. 12 or just dance with the ones they got? All I know is this team cannot be trusted to do the right thing for as long as George Paton is the general manager. Still, it leads one team insider to believe they won’t trade up to No. 5 for Bo Nix…

Benjamin Allbright of KOA 850 AM in Denver says Nix will not only be there at No. 12, but could be available in the 30s and 40s this year. There is a decent chance he is this draft’s version of Will Levis.

Nix will be available at twelve. He's likely to be available in the thirties or forties as well. https://t.co/gxnFM9clRF

— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) March 26, 2024

While I am confident that the Broncos won’t trade up to No. 5 to grossly reach on Nix, I am not ruling out them drafting him at No. 12. I think he would actually play quite well in Payton’s offense. He is mobile and banked a lot of starts at two college football blue-bloods at Oregon and Auburn before that. However, I think No. 12 is too punitive of a place to take him, so I would try to trade back a tad.

Unfortunately, drafting Nix is not going to make a damn bit of difference, as this team will be horrific.

Insider believes Denver Broncos won’t do something stupid in NFL Draft
Look. I think the prudent thing for the Broncos to do is take the best player at No. 12 and then maybe take a quarterback in the third round. It’s important to note that the Broncos currently don’t have a second-round pick at their disposal. If that guy ends up being either Nix or Michael Penix Jr. out of Washington, I wouldn’t hate that. Odds are, Payton will be able to get the most out of their talent. Of the six potential first-round quarterbacks this year, I don’t think either of the guys will bust.

Then again, this is the same franchise that used first-round picks on Tim Tebow and Paxton Lynch, as well as coveted second-round picks on Brock Osweiler and Drew Lock. You want to believe they can draft someone like a Jay Cutler this year, but even that may not be in the cards. To me, I would wait until 2025 to draft a quarterback. There are several that could be worth it for the Broncos to bring in.

Right now, I have three first-round locks at quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft: Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. I would also keep an eye on Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, as well as new Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard, who starred previously at Duke. Denver is going to be awful this season, but next year might be the right time for them to get a quarterback.

If the Broncos were to trade up to No. 5 to draft Nix, then you and I should be running this NFL team.