Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix met with the media in a Zoom call on Wednesday to recap the season and forecast what’s ahead after the team went 14-3. Nix reflected on the success of the season, the disappointment of his injury and not being able to help his team in the AFC Championship, and he clarified some narratives surrounding his ankle surgery.

Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix clarifies timeline after ankle injury

On the morning of the AFC Championship game, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Broncos quarterback Bo Nix’s timeline for recovery from ankle surgery would be around 12 weeks.

In Sean Payton’s end-of-the-year press conference, he mentioned that when Bo had surgery, the surgeon found a predisposed condition in his ankle that would have ultimately led to it breaking eventually.

“I think what was found though, what was a condition that was predisposed, right at that time,” Payton said. “They always find a little bit more when they go in. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it was a matter of ‘when.’ So it wasn’t… Because when you look at the play and you’re trying to evaluate it, he said, the doctor, operating surgeon, said that this was this was going to happen, sooner than later.”

Nix audibled into his own end of the year press conference, which normally would have taken place the day after the season ended, but with him going through recovery, injured players aren’t typically made available to talk to — and Nix wanted to set the record straight.

“Nothing predisposed, nothing that was there originally,” Nix said. “That might’ve gotten confused.”

For Bo, he doesn’t have any concerns about his ankle or its durability going forward.

Denver Post’s Luca Evans reported that one source clarified that Payton was referencing that there was pre-existing stress to the bone, and it was not meant to indicate there was some sort of chronic or longstanding condition.

Nix told us that his ankle injury was a ‘typical bone break’ and that he would be out for four to six weeks, which he said actually puts him on track for when he normally would begin his offseason workouts.

Where controversy was created on Wednesday in his press conference was when Nix was asked by another reporter about Payton telling us that Nix had three previous ankle surgeries.

Payton didn’t directly come out and say that, but did say in jest after he broke the news of Bo’s injury after the Bills game.

“I’ll tell you what, the one thing about it,” Payton said. “He’s such a strong, faith-based guy. He was sitting in the hallway with his family, and I went over, and we’re all talking to him. He knows that God has a plan for him. He said he had one in high school, and then he said he had one at Auburn. I said, ‘I didn’t realize that.’ I said, ‘If I would have known that, I wouldn’t have drafted you.’ (Laughs) He’s a tough cookie.”

In that quote, Payton never directly said that Bo had three ankle surgeries, but within the framing of what Sean said, Bo had said to Sean he essentially had an ankle injury in high school, and one at Auburn, all of which were publicly known facts. That’s ultimately where the mix up took place.

A lot of fans in Broncos Country have reached out asking if there is any type of rift between Payton and Bo. There is not. Wednesday’s debacle was more of a miscommunication between channels than anything. That’s all.

One thing I’ll tell you though is that it is refreshing to have the franchise quarterback call his own press conference to share his side of things. Typically, we get to talk to Bo in-season at the podium, but aren’t necessarily allowed to talk to him when we see him in the locker room.

He has a good personality that doesn’t always get to be showcased around us, like other players in the locker room get to.