The gap between Justin Herbert and Bo Nix in ESPN’s latest quarterback ranking is hard to miss.
NFL coaches, executives and scouts were asked to sort the league’s top passers, and the two former Oregon quarterbacks landed on very different rungs. Herbert came in at No. 7, squarely in the upper tier.
Nix showed up much farther down, sitting in the receiving-votes group around No. 18.
That split matters because both are former first-round picks, both are heading into seasons with real expectations, and both are part of a rare Oregon quarterback pipeline that now has three players slated to start in the NFL this year. New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was not mentioned in the ESPN ranking at all.
Herbert’s standing is no surprise. The Chargers quarterback was named on 80 percent of ballots, a sign that league insiders still view him as one of the most established players at the position. He’s entering his seventh season, and the question hanging over him and Los Angeles is the same one that keeps following him: can this finally be the year the Chargers win their first playoff game?
The Sheldon High School product from Eugene, Oregon, still spends time back home in Eugene. At Oregon, he played four seasons from 2016-2019 and left with plenty of program marks attached to his name. His nine career 300-yard games are second most in school history, and he finished as the Ducks’ all-time leader in pass completions with 827 and pass attempts with 1,293.
Nix’s placement is more of a surprise, especially considering the season he just put together. He was ranked behind Chicago’s Caleb Williams and Washington’s Jayden Daniels from his 2024 draft class, and he also landed behind a long list of quarterbacks that included Seattle’s Sam Darnold, Green Bay’s Jordan Love, San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts.
Still, there are signs his stock could climb. Nix broke his ankle in Denver’s Division Round win over the Buffalo Bills, but a recent workout video showed him back on the field and moving well. Broncos coach Sean Payton had already pointed to July training camp as the target for when Nix would be ready.
This video of Bo Nix’s work w @QBCountry trainers was indeed from last week and not another time this offseason, I’m told. Nix said after season his training plan wouldn’t change w/ankle rehab. Interested if that’s still the case after bone-spur removal pic.twitter.com/CvtwErBGSa
A healthy season could change the conversation quickly. If Nix delivers another strong year, he could earn more respect around the league and even push himself into the Top-10.
His college résumé at Oregon is already loaded. Nix and Ducks coach Dan Lanning remain close, and Nix spent two seasons in Eugene from 2022-2023.
He left as the program’s all-time leader in completion percentage at 74.9 and set Oregon single-season records in 2023 for completions with 364, passing yards with 4,508 and passing touchdowns with 45. That same year, he also set the NCAA single-season completion percentage record at 77.45, going 364-of-470.
Now he’s trying to build on the best NFL season of his career. Nix helped Denver finish 14-3 and win the AFC West in 2025, and he’s entering his third season in the league after being selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Oregon.
Shough’s omission from the ranking stands out in its own way. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2025 and is set to open 2026 as the Saints’ starter after winning the job last season.
He played three seasons at Oregon from 2018-2020 before entering the transfer portal after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, when the Ducks went 4-3. He also met his wife, Jordan, at Oregon, where she played soccer.
The Ducks’ quarterback presence doesn’t stop there. Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota are also in the league, and both are expected to be backups in 2026.
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Dan Lannings Rare Oregon Portal Misses Still Sting For Ducks Fans
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Hughes never found a consistent role in the backfield, World had stretches where his play did not match the lofty projections attached to him, and Chapmans time in Eugene was derailed by injuries before he could build momentum. For a program that leans on the portal to patch holes and raise the ceiling, those misses still stand out because they show how quickly a promising fit can turn into a quiet footnote. [Read more 🡒]