The Las Vegas Raiders were a bad football team in 2024. So bad that the Denver Broncos beat them twice, which had not happened since the Silver and Black relocated to Las Vegas. But at least things are looking far more optimistic under Pete Carroll in 2025, as the team made necessary upgrades.
It will be hard to gain traction in an AFC West division that sported three playoff teams last year, all of which won 10 or more games. However, most of Raider Nation would agree that last year's performances, by the Broncos in particular, were a bit smoke-and-mirrors.
Denver had two free wins against an awful Raiders team, and they snuck into the playoffs because they played the Chiefs' backups in Week 18. However, the Broncos are somehow crowning themselves as the team to beat in the division, and it all centers around one underwhelming player.
Broncos' Bo Nix ranked way too high in latest NFL player rankings
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First-round pick Bo Nix was good as a rookie, and truthfully, better than most expected. However, he was far from great, and his merely solid statistics look a bit hollow for those who watched the games. Still, somehow, he landed at No. 67 in Lou Scataglia's [top 100 player rankings](https://nflspinzone.com/nfl-power-rankings-ranking-the-top-100-players-for-the-2025-season-01jy9stns0je/7) on NFL Spin Zone.
"Bo Nix was on a 45 passing touchdown pace down the stretch in the 2024 NFL Season," Scataglia wrote. "I truly believe Nix is a lot better than people think. The second-year QB seems to already be a top-10 quarterback in this league."
It should come as no surprise to Raider Nation that a Broncos player, especially a quarterback, is being dramatically overhyped ahead of the season. To cherry-pick a stat like "touchdown pace down the stretch" serves as an indication that this ranking is based on hypotheticals, not reality.
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Nix's No. 67 ranking looks even more ridiculous when fans consider that Geno Smith is nowhere on the list and Nix ranks eighth among NFL quarterbacks. He is also ahead of great NFL players like Dak Prescott, D.K. Metcalf, Mike Evans, Jaylon Johnson, Terry McLaurin, Tee Higgins, Nico Collins, Roquan Smith and Quenton Nelson, to name a few.
Denver played at an unbelievable turnover margin last season and gave the young quarterback the best average starting field position in the entire league. Nix also had some of the highest percentages of his production come when the game was out of reach, when compared to the rest of the league.
Just because Nix was a good NFL quarterback as a 24-year-old rookie in a perfect situation does not mean that he is the league's next great signal-caller. In fact, it is more likely that Nix has already reached his ceiling than it is that he will bring a championship or anything close to Denver.
It is very possible that Nix becomes a better-than-expected player at the professional level. However, he was always considered a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect, and the amount of success he had in his rookie season certainly does not warrant this much hype, let alone the No. 67 ranking in the NFL.
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