Why Bo Nix is like ex-Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson

What do University of Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and ex-Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson have in common?

Is this the reason NFL Draft stock for Penix is all over the place?

Well, neither is thought of very fondly by most sports fans in the greater Seattle area. But it’s far more than just that, according to former NFL quarterback and Oregon alum Joey Harrington. He told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Monday that Wilson is the QB he sees Nix most closely resembling.

“It’s really interesting. People have asked me who he reminds me of professionally and the name I think of a lot is Russell Wilson,” Harrington said. “(Nix is) a good athlete, very smart, great worker, not a huge, physical specimen, but God does he throw a great deep ball down the field right there. He is a tremendous deep-ball passer.”

Nix was in the news this weekend because he reportedly visited with the Seahawks ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, which begins on April 25, according to NFL insider Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston.

The 6-foot-2, 214-pound prospect from Pinson, Ala., is thought to be among the second tier of quarterbacks in the upcoming draft. The fifth-year senior completed an efficient 77.4% of his passes for 4,508 yards, 45 TDs and just three interceptions last season. Nix also showed his capabilities as a dual-threat with 20 rushing TDs over the past two seasons at Oregon. He was named to the All-Pac-12 first team and Associated Press All-America third team in 2023.

Nix has received some criticism in how he achieved some of his passing numbers, though, with critics pointing out many of Nix’s passing yards came from his receivers making plays after catching short throws. Harrington pushes back on that.

“I think people generalized him as a guy who throws bubble screens, that his numbers came from dink-and-dunk kind of passes,” Harrington said. “He can make every throw on the field, and actually he pushed the ball down the field quite a bit. Yeah, he was incredibly accurate in the short-range stuff, but he throws the mid-range ball very well.”

One of the areas of Nix’s game that impressed Harrington most was his overall drive to get better. Nix has taken the criticism of his game and shown the ability to improve those aspects.

“He’s a football junkie,” Harrington said. “… Any time he has an opportunity to play, to practice, to throw, to watch, to do, he’s in there. I think one of the knocks on Bo last year, and I say last year being his junior year, was that he wasn’t a great pocket passer. He could get out and move and make things happen on the run, but people wanted to see him become a pocket passer. So what did he do? He completely stayed inside the pocket this year and broke the (FBS) single-season completion percentage record.”

Harrington mentioned there may have been a bit of overcorrection from Nix this past season, and that he’d like to see the 2022 and 2023 versions of Nix merge at the next level.

“This year, he stayed in the pocket too much,” Harrington said. “I would love to see him blend those two – learn when to use his feet to create, learn when to sit in there and take a hit and deliver the ball down the field. (He needs to) find that balance, because he is a tremendous athlete and can create with his with his feet outside the pocket.”

Listen to the full interview with Joey Harrington at this link or in the audio player near the top of the story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

More Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft coverage

• Brock Huard’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: A ‘ninja’ on the edge
• Seattle Seahawks Draft: A versatile WSU Cougars standout on defense
• Huard’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: Under-the-radar WR

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