Since Bo Nix declared the NFL, he has been criticized in every single way. Many draft experts ranked Nix as the sixth-best quarterback in his draft and some even thought that the former Oregon gun-slinger shouldn’t even go in the first-round.
After two seasons, Nix helped lead the Denver Broncos to their first playoff appearance since the franchise won Super Bowl 50 back in 2016. It was clear that Nix wasn’t going to win rookie of the year, but after winning 24 regular season games in two seasons and clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC, Nix has shown that he’s one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL.
Even after Nix out-dueled Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the divisional round of the playoffs this past season, he had the Broncos one game away from the Super Bowl, but that journey ended after having an injured ankle that ended his season.
The AFC Championship was going to be great. Two quarterbacks from the 2024 draft class were going to have to duel it out with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Broncos-Patriots, Nix and Drake Maye, it was going to be exciting.
Instead, we got Maye vs. Jarrett Stidham.
New England went on to win that game, but many still believe that if Nix had played in that game, the Broncos would’ve been jumping on a flight to Santa Clara less than two weeks later.
Since Nix didn’t play in the AFC Championship, many believe that Maye is the better quarterback over Nix and that’s just not true.
Yes, Maye finished second in MVP voting behind Matthew Stafford, but it’s because the sports writers didn’t really breakdown the numbers that matter and voted based off headlines. Don’t forget sports writers get the voting wrong all the time.
In 2013, Peyton Manning put together the greatest single season any quarterback has put together by breaking every offensive record and a writer from Boston voted against Manning. This prevented Manning from winning the MVP unanimously which has now happened just two times.
Let’s really breakdown the numbers that explain why Nix is not only the best quarterback from the 2024 draft class, but that he’s better than the Patriots’ quarterback.
As a rookie, Bo Nix went ahead and started in all 17 of his regular season games. Of those 17, the Broncos went on to 10 of them and clinched a playoff birth.
Maye as a rookie, only appeared in 13 games and got credit for three wins. Of those three wins, Maye started in those three games, but only played the entire game in one of those games. Maye got credit in the other two games because he was the first quarterback to take a snap in those games.
That one game that Maye fully played in came against the Chicago Bears with a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams and a head coach that would eventually get fired that season.
If you were to look at the overall stats for the 2025 season, Maye would beat out Nix in multiple categories, but you have to dive into those numbers to find out how each quarterback got there. Let’s see how Bo Nix and Maye got to where they are in their careers.
Last season, many people refused to mention how easy the Patriots’ schedule was despite them winning 14 games.
In Maye’s second season, he did have an easy schedule and never faced a top-10 scoring defense in the regular season.
Nix played against six.
When you breakdown the numbers of how well Maye played against non top-10 scoring defenses, you’ll see that Maye plays really well. Maye would complete 71.1% of his passes while averaging 251.4 passing yards per game followed by 1.76 touchdown passes per game and 0.68 interceptions.
When Maye played against top-10 defenses, his numbers drop dramatically.
While facing a top-10 scoring defense, Maye’s completion percentage drops to 58.1%. His passing yards per game also declines to 175 yards. Maye also averages 1.33 touchdowns per game and 0.73 interceptions per game.
When Nix is not facing a top-1p scoring defense, his numbers are 64.9% for 222 yards per game with 1.82 touchdowns per game and 0.73 interceptions per game.
When Nix took on top-10 scoring defenses his completion percentage dropped a little to 61.6. His passing yards went down to 223 and his interceptions number improved. His touchdowns per game went down from 1.82 to 1.09.
It’s fair to say that when you play a tougher opponent your numbers could weaken, but Maye took a huge decline in his numbers when he placed a tougher opponent in his career. Nix’s numbers barely decline.
Drake Maye has only completed more than 60% of his passes against a top 10 scoring defense once and it came during the Super Bowl when he was completing passes in garbage time of the fourth quarter. Bo Nix has done it 5 times when facing a top-10 scoring defense.
It’s also worth noting that I didn’t count three games for Nix and the Broncos against a top-10 defense because those three games came against the Chiefs twice and the Chargers once when they played their backups in the final games of the season.
It’s also rare that Maye beat a quarterback that most would rank as elite or a top-10 quarterback. Rookie Caleb Williams, Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young, Andy Dalton, Spencer Rattler, Cam Ward, Dillon Gabriel, Michael Penix Jr., Baker Mayfield, Joe Flacco, Jaxson Dart, Brady Cook, and Quinn Ewers are quarterbacks Maye beat in the regular season. He also beat the Ravens with Lamar Jackson playing half of the game and Tyler Huntley having to finish the game.
Maye’s biggest win came against the Bills in the regular season, but he failed to throw a touchdown in that game.
Nix has gone out and beaten top half of the league quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes (almost twice) , Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love, and Josh Allen (in the playoffs).
Nix has come close to beating Justin Herbert and took Joe Burrow and the Bengals to overtime in Cincinnati as a rookie.
In the playoffs, Maye took down Justin Herbert and Stroud, but he failed to complete 60% of his passes in either one of those games.
Maye and his 4th ranked scoring defense then traveled to Denver as he beat Jarrett Stidham who fumbled a chest pass at his own 15-yard line where it was recovered by New England at the 12. Two plays later, Maye ran the ball in for a 6-yard touchdown.
Maye wouldn’t lead his Patriots offense to nothing more than a field goal late in the third quarter.
It’s safe to say that if Denver had Nix playing, the Broncos would’ve scored more than 10 points.
All of the national radio, television shows, and websites can go ahead and create their rankings and put Maye well ahead of Nix, but that just means they’ll continue to be wrong because they’re not paying attention to the film and breaking down the numbers that matter.
People can look and see that Maye led the NFL in completion percentage at 72%, which is a good accomplishment, but Kyler Murray was 5th in the NFL and had to switch teams in the offseason. Tagovailoa, Rattler, and Geno Smith all had a better completion percentage than Joe Burrow, does that mean they’re better than Burrow? Don’t forget Geno Smith led the NFL in the same category in 2022, did that make him the best quarterback in the NFL?
Despite Nix being ranked 25th in completion percentage, he was only 4.3% away from the tenth overall spot in the NFL. We also can’t dismiss that Nix had the 2nd-most dropped passes in the NFL last season and has had 75 in his career compared to just 24 for Maye.
There’s no doubt that there are similarities with both quarterbacks, but when you look at the real evidence, the proof shows that Nix is the better quarterback over Maye.
Career stats:
Bo Nix: 24-10 overall record, 64.8% comp, 7,706 yards, 54 TDs, and 23 INT
Drake Maye: 17-12 overall record, 69.8% comp, 6,670 yards, 46 TDs, 18 INT