Mel Kiper Jr. sees 'some similarities' to Drew Brees in Bo Nix

There’s a continuing theme for Oregon’s Bo Nix. NFL Draft analysts think his best comparison is to Drew Brees, the likely Pro Football Hall of Famer who retired as the league’s most prolific passer.

Mel Kiper, the noted NFL Draft analyst for ESPN, has linked Nix and Brees for the past month. So has Joel Klatt, a football analyst with Fox Sports.

That brings up another obvious question. Will Nix end up with the same NFL Draft status as Brees, the Texan who starred at Purdue? The Chargers selected Brees with the 32nd pick of the 2001 draft. That distinction made Brees the first pick of the second round.

Nix might be the sixth quarterback selected when the NFL begins its draft, April 25. Conversely, Brees was the second. Michael Vick, the top overall pick of the 01 NFL Draft, was the lone QB of the first round.

Here’s what Kiper had to say about Nix, the one-time five-star recruit who played for Auburn before transferring to Oregon. His career was reborn with the Ducks.

“Bo Nix, if you can say okay, ‘Bo Nix doesn’t have the big arm, but I see some similarities to Drew Brees,'” Kiper said of a NFL GM’s inner dialogue. “‘I can reconcile taking him in the first round.'”

Kiper thinks Nix, Penix are NFL Draft wildcards for first round

Kiper likens Nix’s draft status to Washington’s Michael Penix. You just don’t know whether either will go in the first round, although both have a chance.

“I would say the Rams are a (potential trade) team. I have them moving up to get Penix,” Kiper said. “I have the Giants moving up to get Nix. So we’ll see. But I think right now that you know those quarterbacks are in the mix. They’re a borderline first. (Both) or one of the two is going to become a first round pick more than likely one of those two will.”

Klatt, who played quarterback for Colorado, thinks that Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton will consider Nix. After all, Payton and Brees won a Super Bowl together with the Saints. And the Broncos are in need of a starter after they released Russell Wilson last month.

Last month, Klatt compared Nix to Brees, but with some caveats. He told Denver ‘s 104.3 The Fan that Nix was not “as prolific of a passer and more athletic as a runner.”

Klatt added: “he is smart and makes those decisions as a point guard moreso than a guy that’s gonna stand in there and really drive the ball down the field like a Penix.”

“The hesitation you’re hearing in my voice is that, over the course of his 61 starts in college football, Bo was never asked to do what he would be asked to do in the NFL,” Klatt said. “And those transitions, man, are hard. They’re hard. And you see this with young quarterbacks all around.”