Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton's affection for Bo Nix remains a talking point coming out of the 2024 NFL draft.

On the latest episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast (starts at 20:20 mark), ESPN's Adam Schefter said Payton believes Nix is "as good as any quarterback" in the 2024 class after they finished their evaluation of him.

The Broncos' decision to select Nix at No. 12 overall came as a surprise. It was known they were searching for a potential starting quarterback after releasing Russell Wilson, but the Oregon signal-caller wasn't generally believed to be going that high in the first round.

The MMQB's Albert Breer reported on April 23 the Broncos were making calls about potentially trading down to accrue more assets because they didn't have a second-round pick.

Instead, the Broncos remained at their original spot and went with Nix. The decision immediately led to Schefter reporting Payton felt "as strongly" about Nix as he did Patrick Mahomes in 2017 when he wanted to draft him to the New Orleans Saints.

If Payton and the Broncos truly believe Nix is as good as any quarterback in the 2024 draft, none of the outside noise about whether or not it was a reach matters.

The only thing that matters going forward is if Payton can help mold Nix into the quarterback he needs to make the Broncos competitive. The 60-year-old coach has had a lot of success with quarterbacks in the past.

When Drew Brees missed time in 2019 and 2020, the Saints went 8-1 with Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill starting games.

The Broncos haven't finished with a winning record since 2016 and haven't made the playoffs since winning Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season.