ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The celebratory mood in the Broncos' war room after Denver selected Oregon quarterback Bo Nix was a welcome change from the stress that preceded the moment.
Six quarterbacks were taken with the first 12 picks in the draft, which set an NFL record and created a significant amount of anxiety as the Broncos hoped to be able to select Nix with the 12th-overall pick.
Denver predicted the first three teams in the draft would select quarterbacks, and the Broncos then expected a gap before another group of quarterback-needy teams in Minnesota, Denver and Las Vegas. The Giants, though, were the wild card.
"We kept [wondering], 'Are the Giants going to take one?'" Head Coach Sean Payton said Thursday. "Because that then impacted how the last three [quarterbacks] were going to be [selected]."
The Giants selected LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, and Payton and Co. believed Nix was on his way to Denver.
"I think I said to [General Manager] George [Paton], 'We think Minnesota likes [J.J.] McCarthy, we think — we don't know this — we think the Raiders like [Michael] Penix [Jr.] And we like Nix. Let's get on a conference call with all of them and say, 'No one spend any money. We think we know this [order],'" Payton said.
The remaining minutes before Denver's pick wouldn't be without stress. The Falcons surprisingly selected Penix with the eighth-overall pick, which threw the ensuing picks into flux.
"Now all of a sudden, we're paying attention to the team behind us," Payton said. "It got a little crazy there for a minute."
The Broncos "never really got too serious" in any potential trade-ups, according to Paton. The Falcons' selection, though, made the Broncos consider whether they needed to jump up to select Nix.
"When Atlanta took [Penix], now it was like, 'Holy cow. Do we have to go up?'" Payton said.
The Vikings chose to move up a slot from No. 11 to No. 10 to select McCarthy, a move that also caught the Broncos' attention.
"Minnesota jumped," Paton said. "We're like, 'Oh boy, OK.'"
The Falcons' move also eliminated any chance the Broncos would move down and select Nix later in the first round, as Paton said "it got a little stressful" following the Penix selection.
"We just didn't want to overthink it," Paton said. "This was our guy. We were going to take our guy. We did think about it — not too far. … We could've moved a couple picks back and maybe got some picks, but at the end of the day, this was our guy. Let's just take him. Let's not overthink it. We would've been sick if we lost him just for a couple fifth-round picks or what have you."
As Payton explained, winding up with their desired quarterback in Nix was the most important outcome.
"We all understand managing the draft, but man, let's worry about what it's going to look like … three to four years from now — when this class will be judged — and make sure we get the right guy there," Payton said.
