Welcome to Purple & Gold Prospects!

This will be an ongoing series to get Vikings fans familiar with upcoming draft prospects. The focus of this series will be to cover prominent prospects entering the upcoming NFL Draft. The series will center on the position groups of highest need on the current Vikings roster, but will also cover stand out players across the spectrum. I hope you will join me on this continuing journey to learn more about upcoming draft classes.

With that let’s discover the possible future of your Minnesota Vikings!

Background

Height: 6020

Weight: 217 lbs.

Bo Nix was a 4-star recruit out of Pinson Valley High School in Alabama. In his high school career, he accumulated over 12,000 offensive yards and 161 TDs. This earned him a bevy of offers out of high school and he eventually committed to Auburn. In his three years at Auburn, he amassed 7,251 passing yards, a 39 TD-INT ratio, with a completion percentage of 59.4%. In 2022 he transferred to Oregon and flourished. In two years with that Oregon offense, he accumulated 8,101 passing yards, 74 TDs, 10 INTs, and an impressive 74.9% completion rate. His draft stock remains an enigma as he prepares for the 2024 NFL Draft

Games watched: Georgia 2022, North Carolina 2022, Oregon State 2022, Utah 2022, Washington 2022, Oregon State 2023, Stanford 2023, Washington State 2023

Strengths

Bo Nix is a plus athlete showing good ability to extend plays and pick up yards on the ground. He has above-average instincts as a runner showcasing good lateral agility and ability to make defenders miss in the open field. He also flashes moments of great ball placement and accuracy on the run. Nix also has moments of good pocket mobility with the ability step up into the pocket to deliver passes or escape and extend plays. He is very comfortable on the run outside the pocket. Nix can also be elusive in the pocket, using that agility and athleticism to avoid rushers or break tackles. Flashes moments of poise with oncoming rushers. Nix also tends to keep his eyes downfield while extending the play instead of tucking and running early. His hips are fluid and swivel quickly to line up with the pass. He displays the ability to be a good short-game operator. Nix also possesses a nice quick and compact release. He has good upper-body mechanics. Footwork is generally good when kept clean. Although most of the plays in that Oregon offense are 1-read and shoot, Nix does have moments of reading through progressions. He doesn’t possess an elite arm but it is more than adequate for the NFL and delivers passes with good velocity. He is good on short to intermediate passes, displaying decent anticipation and accuracy.

Weaknesses

Although his footwork is fairly good when kept clean he has too many instances of happy feet that don’t plant correctly to deliver the pass. His base can also freeze at times as he is waiting for a route to open. His lower body mechanics can also become a mess when his protection breaks down or he is feeling pressure when he doesn’t have confidence in that protection. This also causes him to panic far too early, often bailing out on clean pockets and causing his OL to lose position and leverage. His drop-back is also fairly inconsistent. He can have slow loping backsteps at times and his depth is inconsistent. He also tends to drift in the pocket, anticipating a need to bail and use his legs. While he can read the entire field and go through progressions, far too often he will pass over open intermediate and deep routes for shorter options and checkdowns. His processing and anticipation are not currently up to NFL speed. The Oregon offense uses a lot of quick game passes relying on receivers to generate yards after the catch. When Nix was tasked with driving the ball downfield his play drops off due to his slower processing and ball placement issues. Placement and accuracy on deeper routes often allow the defender to make a play on the ball. Nix can also predetermine and telegraph reads pre-snap which can get him into trouble. He also has moments of not reading defenders shading into throwing lanes. Nix will also try to force balls into specific windows instead of throwing his receivers open or hitting them in stride. Nix’s arm trajectory does not have much variance either, often throwing fairly low giving defenders more opportunities to bat and deflect passes. I would like to see him develop the ability to more consistently fit passes in over defenders at all levels of the field. While he does display good ability to extend plays with his legs, he relies on this too often and is clearly far more comfortable on these reps than operating a pocket.

Conclusion

Statistically, Nix had an amazing season in 2023. 4508 yards passing, 45 TDs, 3 INTs, and an immense completion rate of 77.4%. However, most of the last two years were fueled by the Oregon offensive design. Allowing him to mostly make 1-read throws, and often only short to intermediate passes. It relied heavily on spacing and receivers generating YAC. NFL Teams will have to weigh his incredible statistical performance this season with the actual NFL development required to play at the next level. For the Vikings I don’t think Bo Nix is a great option. He won’t be able to focus on single reads in the KOC offense and there is far too much to develop on the mental side, to go with the development still needed in his passing overall, to be an effective developmental project for the Vikings. His draft stock is all over the place with many analysts having him as a first-round grade and others all the way to Day 3. Overall I think he ends up being selected sometime late 2nd or early 3rd round like the selections of Kyle Trask, Kellen Mond, and Davis Mills in 2021.

Grade

Accuracy: 11.5 / 15

Decision Making/Mental Ability: 9 / 15

Mechanics: 11.5 / 15

Touch/Trajectory: 10.5 / 15

Arm Strength: 8.5 / 10

Athleticism: 8.2 / 10

Durability: 8 / 10

Pocket Presence: 7 / 10

Bonus (Rushing Ability): .5

OVERALL: 74.7 – Early Fourth Round