Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix was ranked the 20th-best signal caller, tied with Sam Darnold, by a 50-person panel of GMs, assistant GMs, head and assistant coaches, and more in The Athletic.

Last year, Nix started off his rookie season roughly. He threw four interceptions in the team’s first two games, both losses. But he found his footing and got better as the season went on.

Still, many national media members are sleeping on Nix ahead of 2025.

Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix is better than some give him credit for

At No. 20, Nix is tied with Sam Darnold and behind Trevor Lawrence, Geno Smith, and Kyler Murray, among others he is arguably better than.

Six GMs, six assistant GMs, six former GMs, five other execs, eight head coaches and 19 other coaches, including 15 coordinators, comprise a 50-person voting panel.

The goal was simple: Tier every veteran QB in the NFL.

Did they get it right?

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— The Athletic (@theathletic.com) August 11, 2025 at 7:01 AM

In four other preseason QB rankings–from Pro Football Focus, CBS, and others–Nix’s average ranking was 17.5. One analyst said Nix is a boring quarterback, which left me wondering if many people watched the Broncos last year at all.

Before last season, NFL.com had him ranked 29th. Which, considering he hadn’t taken an NFL snap yet, was somewhat warranted. But he turned Broncos fans into “Bo-lievers” with amazing escapability, crazy 4th-quarter comebacks, and eventually leading Denver to the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50.

He made a lot out of nothing, both in terms of the Broncos lack of playmakers on offense, as well as on individual plays. Down the stretch run of the season, Nix threw for 21 touchdowns versus six interceptions, and the Broncos went 5-3 in those games. Which includes the overtime loss to Cincinnati where Nix and Marvin Mims hooked up for a score as time expired.

Unfortunately for Nix’s reputation, the Broncos still lost that game despite the amazing comeback. As mentioned before, it doesn’t seem like many national analysts watched Denver much last year. And why would they? The Broncos were expected to be one of the worst teams and miss the playoffs again.

But Nix improved all season long and proved he’s “the guy” in the Mile High City.

Not only that, he played like a QB who is in the top-half of the league. That’s why I ranked him as the No. 13 QB a month ago.

Still, some are doubting him in a huge way.

Will Denver’s QB have a “megaslump” in 2025?

As we sit today, the Broncos are 1-0 in the preseason. And yet, some are using that first preseason game as an early measuring stick for Nix.

No doubt, the Broncos starting offense struggled against the 49ers. Nix went 6-11 for 31 yards, a terrible 2.8 yards per attempt. The offense gained a mere three first downs and Denver’s QB was called for a safety due to an illegal grounding in the end zone.

By all accounts, it was a poor performance. But, should the knee-jerk reaction be to expect a sophomore slump?

Mike Tanier, who knows ball and was Bleacher Report’s head NFL writer for many years, and now runs his own Too Deep Zone, took that first quarter of the first preseason game to predict a “megaslump” is much more likely than before.

I am increasing the likelihood that Nix has a Mac Jones-level “that rookie success was mostly situation/scheme/defense” sophomore megaslump from about 10% to 25%.

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— Mike Tanier (@miketanier.bsky.social) August 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM

Seriously? After one preseason game?

There’s no questioning that Nix and the offense will lean on the defense again this year. Denver’s defense was the leading unit on the team that took them to the playoffs in 2024, and the group will likely be better this season.

For Jones, who went through a sophomore “megaslump” his defense was 2nd-best in points per game as a rookie and fell to 11th-best in his second year. Simply, the Broncos aren’t going to see a regression like that on defense.

Some have called Nix a product of Sean Payton’s scheme–as Tanier referred to–and that’s fine. In fact, that’s what a coach is supposed to do; design an offense to benefit his players, especially the quarterback. But Tanier and other analysts must realize that Payton will continue to mold that scheme to get the most out of Nix. And the Broncos also added Evan Engram, a talented tight end, to help the young QB avoid that dreaded sophomore slump. They also drafted R.J. Harvey and signed J.K. Dobbins to improve a dreadful 2024 running game.

Could Bo Nix go through a sophomore slump? Certainly. As we sit 25 days away from Broncos season kicking off against the terrible Tennessee Titans, it’s the biggest worry in Broncos Country. A slump by Nix would spell doom in Denver.

But extrapolating 11 preseason plays into a full 17-game season is folly.

All we have to do is rewind to Nix’s rookie year, which started really roughly, only to see him bounce back and sustain competent QB play.