After spending decades in the NFL, rising up the ranks on the defensive side of the ball, Jim Schwartz has pretty much seen it all. He’s coached some defenses, coached against some of the best of the best coordinators of all time, and even holds the rare distinction of having won a Super Bowl in a game where his team didn’t force a single punt in regulation, even if the quality of that fact is highly debatable.
When it comes to Sean Payton, Schwartz has seen him a number of times across multiple different coaching tenures, but until Week 13, he’s never seen his offense operate with Bo Nix as the triggerman, with the pride of Oregon going from zero to hero has he’s rapidly figured out the NFL game before fans’ eyes.
Asked during his weekly media session what he thinks of Nix in Payton’s scheme, he celebrated the two men for marrying their styles, as the latter has never quite had a quarterback like the former.
“Yeah, Sean’s always done a great job going back to when he was an offensive coordinator. When you have a guy like Drew Brees, there’s a lot of things that you can do. But I think that you look at some of Sean’s success when Drew Brees was hurt, and Taysom Hill went in and played real quarterback for him, not just a spot player, and kept that production up, and they won a lot of games. So, sort of does a good job of crafting his stuff to what the player does well and Nix has been one of those guys that’s just improved over the course of the season,” Schwartz told reporters.
“He’s got very good mobility. It’s sort of sneaky, makes a lot of guys miss, scrambles for a lot of first downs. He’s elusive back there. Throws a really nice deep ball, and they’ve done a good job of just sort of playing to his strengths and what he does ever — an offensive system is only, I say, is only as good as the quarterback that’s running it, and I think they do a good job of melting a lot of concepts that Sean’s used in the past with stuff that Bo Nix has been good at. He’s been taking care of the ball, and over the last few games, he’s been really hot.”
Despite widely being considered the sixth-best quarterback coming out of the 2024 NFL draft class, Nix was regarded as a good fit in Payton’s offense due to his time at Oregon playing under Dan Lanning. Call it a benefit of playing in an offense that has been elite in the past, calling it a testament to GM George Paton for putting a great team around his rookie quarterback, but when Schwartz believes a rookie quarterback is worthy of note, that means a lot.
Jim Schwartz is also impressed by Broncos RB Marvin Mims
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Turning his attention to the rest of the Broncos’ offense, Schwartz complimented Nix’s weapons, too, especially Mims, who has been a revelation at running back.
“Yeah, I mean, other than Mims, they’re like a junior college basketball team. You know, like every guy is like 6’4″, 6’5″, 225. So, they have really good height, really good length, really good strength,” Schwartz told reporters. “And I think they’re dangerous on deep balls, particularly (Courtland) Sutton, just because they’re so strong and go over the top. But Mims is a unique challenge — punt return kind of stuff, they use him in a lot of different ways. Put him in the backfield at times, line him up all over the place and they use him in a specialty package, plus, just as a normal wide receiver, a little different skill set than the other guys. We’ll be on the lookout when he comes in the game.”
If the Browns are going to win in Week 13, they’ll need to keep an eye on number 19 at all times, which, considering his versatility, is a lot easier said than done.