With the 12th-15th pick in this year’s NFL draft the Broncos have two viable quarterback options – Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr.

They must choose a quarterback in the first round for only the fifth time in franchise history and make it right for a long time this time.

The Broncos will see each of the two participate in one more college game, and they have played each other twice this season (with Penix prevailing). Washington’s Penix will be in the national championship, and Oregon’s Nix accepted an invitation Wednesday from the Senior Bowl.

To be sure, neither is ranked among the top three QBs who will be available in the draft. Depending on who does the rating, Nix is No. 4 or 5, and Penix is the other.

Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams most probably will be selected No. 1 by the Bears or a team they trade with; North Carolina’s Drake Maye may be grabbed first overall, but likely will go second to the Commanders, and Heisman winner Jayden Daniels of LSU could be drafted by the Patriots third or the Giants fifth, although team could try to move up.

Not the Broncos, though. They’ve been without a first-round choice since Pat Surtain II in 2021, and another deal dealing two ones and another pick would be a fool’s move. It’s time after the train wreck of a trade for Russell Wilson to get back on track sometime before the Broncos go 9-10-12-14 seasons without being in the playoffs.

A future Super Bowl seems more distant than the Broncos’ most recent Super Bowl.

None of the quintet of coming-out quarterbacks is a sure thing, although Williams and Maye may seem so. But the odds of a quarterback becoming a career starter and/or star is significantly higher if he is drafted in the sweet 16 than in the second 16, the second round or lower. Tom Brady (199th) and Brock Purdy (262nd and last) are exceptions; John Elway (1) and Peyton Manning (1) were more the rule.

The Broncos have taken quarterbacks Tommy Maddox at 25, Jay Cutler at 11, Tim Tebow at 25 and Paxton Lynch at 26. Cutler was in the sweet spot, and he spent a dozen seasons in the NFL with the Broncos, the Bears and the Dolphins. But Cutler reached the postseason just once in 2010 and won one game. As everybody in Colorado knows, he was a dipstick during his Broncos’ three seasons. Tebow, like King Arthur in “Camelot’’, experienced had one bright, shining moment in a playoff game, but soon disappeared. Maddox and Lynch had a total of four years with the Broncos and won one of seven starts.

Are Nix and Penix worthy candidates for the Broncos to draft in the middle of the first round, or are they Maddox- and Lynch-like underachievers in Denver?

Penix and Nix were transfers, typical of the turbulent QB trend.

Penix spent four years (2018-2021) at Indiana and started 21 games. Then he moved on to Washington and will play in his 28th game with the Huskies against Michigan. He underwent two ACL surgeries. But he has a howitzer of a left (throwing) arm. His passing percentage is 63.6 with 13,486 yards and 95 touchdowns against 32 interceptions. He is 6-foot-3 and will be 24 as a rookie, and he finished 8th in the Heisman last season and 2nd this. His 2023 has pulled his draft projection up from the second round to the first. He would be higher without the knee operations.

Nix also turns 24 next month, but an inch shorter.

He was a starting quarterback at Auburn from 2019-21, then transferred, as Penix, for his final two seasons with the Ducks. He has played QB in an NCAA Division 1 record 61 games, the last a laugher over Liberty. He retired early in the fourth quarter after throwing five scoring passes. Nix was accurate on 71.9 and 77.4 percent of his attempts over the past two seasons and finished with 15,352 passing yards and 113 touchdowns with 26 picks (three in ’23).

Nix would fit into Sean Payton “system’’. The coach would have to adjust for Penix.

The two are anticipated to be available when the Broncos’ turn occurs.

But do Payton, Paton and Penner pick one or nix both Nix and Penix?

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix (10) runs during the second half on an NCAA college football game against Arizona State, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Matt York

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. prepares to throw during a Nov. 4 game against Southern California in Los Angeles.

The Associated Press