With a first-class duel on the road against them Baltimore Ravens On Sunday, Bo Nix has the chance to prove himself in the NFL Denver Broncos that the future is now when it comes to his franchise quarterback potential. The Broncos selected Nix out of Oregon at No. 12 overall in the hopes that he would be a future franchise quarterback.

However, halfway through his rookie campaign, Nix has already shown what it takes to become a franchise. He was the first Broncos rookie quarterback to start in the regular season opener since John Elway in 1983, and earned the job by beating out two young veterans in training camp. And Nix has since made several other franchise marks.

Nix's five wins already surpassed the mark for franchise rookie quarterbacks, surpassing Elway and Drew Lock (2019). His four rushing touchdowns to date are the second-most by a Broncos rookie quarterback, trailing only Tim Tebow's six.

Nix's 165 completions are the most ever by a Broncos rookie. If the season ended today, his 81.4 QB rating would rank him second among franchise rookie signal-callers. But there's still a lot of work to be done this year, and if his last four games are any indication, this rating will rise.

The rookie is just getting started. Nix will easily finish with the most rookie passing yards in team history.

In week 8 the Broncos win against the Carolina PanthersNix set a franchise record with completions on 11 different receivers. The rookie has also developed into a true dual-threat quarterback, as evidenced by his eight passing touchdowns and four rushing scores.

In fact, only four quarterbacks in NFL history have passed for eight touchdowns and scored at least four extra points in the first eight games, and Nix is ​​one of them, joining Dak Prescott (2016), Robert Griffin III (2012) and Cam Newton (2011 ). Believe it or not, Nix is ​​the only Broncos quarterback not named Elway to have at least two games with two pass scores and a rushing touchdown in a season. Elway owns the franchise with three of these games.

Add to that the fact that Nix was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for October – only the third Broncos rookie to ever win the award and the first since running back Clinton Portis in 2002 – and it's clear that this one Boy is on the right track.

But despite all those stats and records, Nix can prove to Broncos Country and the NFL as a whole this weekend that he is already a franchise quarterback — still in the chrysalis, obviously, but a model nonetheless.

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The Broncos will face a Ravens squad that is also 5-3 strong at home on Sunday. It will be the most hostile environment Nix has faced so far in his young career, and things don't get any easier from there with a back-to-back road trip to the hated Kansas City Chiefs – the back-to-back reigning world champions.

Opposite Nix on Sunday will be two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. If you're looking for a benchmark to judge where Nix stands overall as a prospecting quarterback, it doesn't get much clearer than facing Jackson.

When the Broncos emerge from Baltimore with six wins on the season, it's time to stand up and confidently proclaim that Nix is ​​The Guy™ from now on. And the complexion of the game doesn't matter.

Nix has beaten other all-time MVPs like Aaron Rodgers and won as ugly as it gets at MetLife Stadium. In fact, the only uglier quarterback win in recent memory was Tim Tebow's two-completion performance against the Chiefs at Arrowhead in 2011.

Nix passed the ball only 60 yards in a heavy downpour New York Jetsbut the Broncos emerged victorious 10-9. Rodgers described his ignominious loss to upstart Nix as “Outliers“, but the boy simply made more plays than his experienced opponent when the going got tough. The four-time MVP should give the kid the credit he deserves.

The cool thing is that Nix doesn't care about his stats. He's all about winning, and while some may cringe in fear and wring their hands at the suggestion that wins are a quarterback statistic, it is an inescapable reality of the NFL. Let's face it, wins and losses are the first measure of an NFL quarterback.

Successful quarterbacks tend to stay, keep their jobs, and rake in tens of millions of dollars, regardless of how they achieve them. There are exceptions that prove the rule, like Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ersor Alex Smith and the Chiefs, in the not-too-distant past.

I suppose you could include Tebow and the Broncos in this conversation as well, although that's a bit of a stretch considering Denver only won seven games in the regular season and made the playoffs. But this overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round would legally have been enough to establish Tebow as the Broncos' quarterback of the future if he hadn't existed Indianapolis Colts a few months later, he shook off the biggest free-agent fish in NFL history.

Peyton Manning became a Bronco. Tebow was shipped to the Jets. Four division titles, two Super Bowl berths and a World Championship later, the Broncos proved they made the right decision by going with Manning and dumping Tebow at a landing spot of his choosing.

Bringing it back to the present, if Nix can pull off a win over the Ravens, the debate over his franchise bonafides should be put to rest. Stylistically, we can expect the young quarterback to develop and improve as the weeks and months go by, but a win in Baltimore would showcase the kid's ability.

Shortly after being named Offensive Rookie of the Month, the Ravens are pursuing Nix. He'll have a big target in his sights, but it won't be the first time in his long playing career, which dates back 61 college games before entering the NFL. The pride of Auburn, Nix took on the burden of being an SEC target with flying colors and was named conference rookie of the year despite the heat.

A loss won't definitively disprove Nix's franchise caliber, and it could be instructive as he navigates his rookie trial-and-error learning curve. But a win, oh, baby… that would silence his still-vocal critics and put to rest the bitter claims that he should have been a Day 2 pick and not the sixth quarterback off the board in Round 1.

Get them. I believe.

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