Bo Nix to Broncos, Michael Penix Jr. to Rams Among 6 QBs in Tannenbaum NFL Mock Draft

Former New York Jets general manager and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum had six quarterbacks come off the board in the first round of his 2024 NFL GM mock draft on Tuesday.

Rather than projecting what he thinks will actually happen in the draft, Tannenbaum did the mock based off what he would do if he was general manager of each team, and it resulted in a quarterback frenzy.

Tannenbaum mocked USC's Caleb Williams to the Chicago Bears at No. 1, North Carolina's Drake Maye to the Washington Commanders at No. 2 and LSU's Jayden Daniels to the New England Patriots at No. 3. Then, he shockingly had the Arizona Cardinals take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy fourth overall despite already having Kyler Murray on the roster.

Later in the first round, Tannenbaum had the Cardinals trade Murray and a third-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for the No. 11 overall pick.

Tannenbaum went on to mock Oregon quarterback Bo Nix to the Denver Broncos at 12th overall and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to the Los Angeles Rams at 19th overall, making it six signal-callers off the board in the first 19 selections.

Perhaps no team in the NFL has a bigger quarterback need than the Broncos after they released veteran Russell Wilson and have declined to replace him thus far.

The only quarterbacks on Denver's roster currently are Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci, and it seems highly unlikely that it will enter the 2024 season without adding someone else.

As much as Denver needs a quarterback, the board may not fall in its favor since it seems likely that the top three picks in the draft will be quarterbacks, plus the Vikings have more ammo to trade up if they so choose with two first-round picks.

That means the Broncos will likely either need to take the No. 5 quarterback in the draft at 12th overall or address other positions of need before taking a quarterback later in the draft.

If Tannenbaum was in charge of the Broncos, he would roll the dice on Nix, who is coming off a massive senior year at Oregon.

Nix, who had the most career starts by a quarterback in college football history with 61, completed a remarkable 77.4 percent of his passes for 4,508 yards, 45 touchdowns and just three interceptions with the Ducks last season while also rushing for 234 yards and six scores.

He is as efficient and experienced as any quarterback in the draft, but he is also already 24 years of age and isn't known for having a huge arm, which could scare some teams away.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton helped guide quarterback Drew Brees to a Hall of Fame career with the New Orleans Saints, though, and it can be argued that Nix is a more physically gifted quarterback.

Perhaps Tannenbaum's most surprising pick in his mock is the Rams using the No. 19 overall pick on Penix.

The Rams already have their starting quarterback from 2024 and likely beyond in place in the form of Matthew Stafford.

Stafford is 36 and has an injury history, so it is fair to wonder how much longer he will play, but he led L.A. to a Super Bowl win in 2021, and after missing significant time due to injury in 2022, he bounced back to lead the Rams to the playoffs last season and was a Pro Bowler to boot.

Penix took the University of Washington to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game last season and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in the process, completing 65.4 percent of his passes for 4,903 yards, 36 touchdowns and 11 picks.

The lefty was oft-injured during his time at Indiana, but he largely stayed healthy in two seasons at Washington and has a clean bill of health entering the NFL.

It is somewhat difficult to envision a playoff team in the Rams eschewing a player who can help them right away in favor of a quarterback of the future, but as the Green Bay Packers showed with their past selections of Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love, it is a formula that can work.