The Denver Broncos shocked the world when they drafted Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, but the franchise seemed convinced that he was their quarterback of the future. And in his first preseason action for the team against the Indianapolis Colts, Nix helped showcase why the team used their first-round pick on him.

After Jarrett Stidham took the field for the first two drives of the game, Nix got the next five, and he was dominant during his time on the field (15/21, 125 YDS, 1 TD, 3 CAR, 17 YDS). There's no doubt this is exactly what Denver was hoping to see, and you can bet that the talented rookie's performance was making waves across the NFL.

Bo Nix just made Broncos quarterback competition quite interesting

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) points during the second quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

The Broncos have an interesting quarterback situation, as their depth chart consists of Nix, Stidham, and former second overall pick Zach Wilson. On Denver's first depth chart, Nix came in behind both Stidham and Wilson, indicating that the team was planning on taking it slow with him and letting him develop behind the scenes, which made sense considering Stidham and Wilson both have more NFL experience than him.

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However, it's not like Stidham or Wilson have been all that effective in the NFL, which leaves the door open for Nix to storm in and steal the starting job. And while one preseason performance won't automatically make him the team's Week 1 starter, it was tough to ignore how good he looked against the Colts in this contest.

Given how poorly Denver's Russell Wilson experiment just panned out, they are going to be extra cautious with their quarterback situation in 2024, especially when it comes to Nix. Carving up backups in a preseason game is nice on the surface, but going against a real NFL defense is a completely different animal, and there's no guarantee he won't struggle in their next contest.

Fans are obviously going to overreact to this performance, but it's clear that the Broncos quarterback competition just got a whole lot more interesting thanks to Nix. And if he can continue to string together strong performances during the team's training camp practices and their upcoming preseason contests, he could end up beating out Stidham and Wilson for the starting quarterback job.