The Denver Broncos are entering the offseason going into 2025 without having to ask themselves whether or not they have to find a quarterback — they have Bo Nix. After a successful rookie season, the Broncos’ brain-trust of Sean Payton and George Paton believe they have their guy for the foreseeable future.
Sean Payton reflects on Bo Nix and his rookie season
For a large portion of Broncos Country, the goal for the fanbase this season was to see if Bo Nix could be the guy for the foreseeable future and his rookie showcase demonstrated to them that he can be. Head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton believe that he is and that they’ve found the guy who can help lead them to success.
Wednesday was the team’s end-of-the-year press conference with Payton, Paton, and team CEO Greg Penner. Payton met with all of us first and shared his thoughts on Nix’s rookie year.
“I’m really encouraged, and I’m glad that he’s with us and that it worked out the way it did,” Payton said. “I know this: He’s very conscientious. He comes in. He spends a lot of time here. He was here in my office for half an hour yesterday. I think it’s all in front of him. I’ve said this before—I think we’ve found that player that can lead us and be what we need relative to having the success we’re used to having. I think we’ve found it.”
Nix led all rookie quarterbacks in passing yards, passing touchdowns, overall touchdowns, and completions, which has him in line for a potential bid as the NFL Rookie of the Year.
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Even though the season has officially ended, Nix and Payton have already met to discuss the offseason schedule, where the soon-to-be second-year quarterback will likely take a small amount of deserved time off before getting back into training.
“He’ll have a schedule,” Payton said. “I think guys like him, he already has his schedule. He has the calendar from us, and he already kind of knows, ‘This is where I’m going to be. This is where I’m going to go.’ It’ll be pretty organized. It will be pretty laid out. It’ll be one in which… Here’s the thing. Part of the growth and development is the willingness in someone like him who’s really wanting to be a sponge and gather that information. All of that is extremely positive. I think that’s just in his DNA. His aspirations for himself and for his team have to be higher than anyone else’s, and I think that’s the case.”
After all of the years of that quarterback carousel spinning and the offseason questions about the position itself, the Denver Broncos have their guy in Bo Nix and the other key Paton believes that too.
“You all saw it,” Paton said. [It was a] pretty incredible rookie year. [QB] Bo [Nix] was a pro the minute he walked in the building for rookie minicamp. You saw the poise throughout the season. Poise beyond his years. Poise for a rookie. Just the leadership. He was a captain as a rookie, and that’s tough. The team embraced him. You just look at that—the intangible piece—then you look at the talent [and] what he did on the field. A lot of the games looked like they did at Oregon. [He is] very accurate, can process [and] makes quicks decisions. He doesn’t put the ball in harm’s way too often. [He took the] third-least sacks. We talked about that all through the draft process. You saw the arm. He has really good arm talent. I think the thing that you search for through the draft process is he never flinched. We’d be behind in games—we always came back—didn’t always win them. We’re always looking for that it factor. I talked about it with you guys previously. You go to Kansas City. That tough environment, he brings us back in field goal range. The Raiders—you can name a bunch of games. Cincinnati, that’s a tough place to play and Bo—he raised the level of everyone around him. I feel like he has that it factor. Things he needs to work on, the coaches will get with him. He knows he has a lot to work on to get to where he wants to be. He has that as his mindset. He’s been here. It’s like, ‘Bo, you have to take a little break.’ He was here today. He was here yesterday. I’m sure he’ll get away from it and then jump into it.”
The future is bright for Broncos Country!