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Even with a small sample size, Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix seems like the real deal. The No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft could be the player the franchise builds around for the next decade.
The one key to that? Keeping Nix healthy. While the Broncos have a left offensive tackle to protect Nix’s blind side in former NFL All-Pro Garett Bolles, he’s 32 years old and is in the final year of a 4-year, $68 million contract extension he signed in 2020.
Bolles isn’t a long-term solution. What is a long-term solution is finding the player to protect Nix’s blind side for years to come in the 2025 NFL draft, where ESPN’s Field Yates projects the Broncos will select Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. with the No. 3 overall pick in a mock draft released on Aug. 21.
“Banks put together excellent tape down the stretch in 2023 as a key part of Texas’ run to the College Football Playoff, as he has an incredible combination of size (6-4, 320 pounds) and power,” Yates wrote. “… While quarterback Bo Nix has a ton of upside, the precision and timing-based offense that Sean Payton aspires to run also requires excellent protection. Banks — who has allowed two sacks over 1,789 career snaps — has lockdown-left-tackle talent.”
Banks Has Generational Talent on Blind Side
As a true freshman at Texas, Banks established himself as the starter before the Longhorns’ season opener in 2022. He has started 27 consecutive games on the way to being a two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection and earning AFCA All-American honors in 2023.
Banks was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-American Team before the 2024 season and was also on the Lombardi Award preseason watch list ahead of the 2024 season, with Texas ready to play its first year in the SEC after leaving the Big 12.
“Banks’ season-long PFF run-blocking grade shot up from 64.9 as a true freshman to 70.0 (considered an average PFF grade) as a sophomore,” wrote 247Sports’ Jeff Howe. “Still, Banks said during SEC Media Days in Dallas in July that he hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling, something he’s working toward every day.”
Broncos Need Disastrous ’24 for No. 3 Pick in ’25
If the Broncos do end up with the No. 3 overall pick in 2025 it would mean that 2024 took a catastrophic turn. That’s not a fun prospect, even if there’s little hope of winning now while looking up at the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West and staring down $85 million in dead cap money over next 2 seasons because of the disastrous Russell Wilson trade.
So maybe suffering now to reap the benefits later might not be the worst thing.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine put the Broncos at the top of his list of teams who should consider tanking in 2024 in order to set themselves up for a better draft position in 2025.
“The Russell Wilson trade has undoubtedly set back the franchise a few years,” Ballentine wrote. “A bit of patience is going to be required and playing for the 2025 draft could put the Broncos in a position to make a bigger leap next season.”
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