The Nix Fix: There are hopes that Bo Nix can cure the Broncos ills

In the history of Mile High Sports Magazine, there has never been a cover more telling – or more timeless – than the one that was released in July of 2016.

The headline, situated just to the left of a smiling John Elway, said “The QB Game.” The Super Bowl champs had just entered the “Post-Peyton Era,” and who would fill Denver’s most important position was – even heading into training camp – a great unknown.

Still, Ol’ No. 7 was grinning, of course, because he’d just won another Super Bowl, this time as an executive. He had the Midas touch, having brought in one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in Peyton Manning, having tactfully constructed a defense that was on par with Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” that had bested the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII and having just hoisted Denver’s third Lombardi Trophy – all of it reaffirmed his status as the undisputed Duke of Denver. Following the Broncos win in Super Bowl 50. Elway’s pearly whites could not have reflected the sentiment of Broncos Country any more perfectly.

But, sitting just in front of Elway, the picture darkened – or, rather, would darken in due time.

The cartoon itself was light and bright. It offered a spinning wheel, the colorful kind that resembles a “pie” and comes with plenty of old-school board games. On each piece of the wheel was a pawn, a quarterback who was somehow linked to the Broncos tenuous signal-calling situation heading into the 2016 season.

There was a happy-go-lucky Peyton Manning, wearing a floral golf shirt and shorts and holding a golf club. Manning’s NFL career had come to an end, and the copy under his feet said, “Game Over.” As great as he was in Denver, his services were no longer available.

Behind Manning was his Broncos teammate, Brock Osweiler. Osweiler, however, was wearing a Houston Texans uniform, as he and Elway didn’t see eye-to eye that offseason. Osweiler had played a major role in the Broncos super season, so it was nearly inconceivable that he wouldn’t be Manning’s successor, yet, off to Houston he went.

Next to Osweiler was Colin Kaepernick, who, for a mere moment, was linked to the Broncos quarterback vacancy. In fact, Elway had offered him a contract; Kaepernick declined and, later, Elway famously said, “He had his chance to be here. He passed it.”

On the right side of the spinning wheel stood the Broncos “current” quarterback room. In the very front was seven-year veteran Mark Sanchez. The legendary gunslinger from USC was approaching journeyman status in the NFL but was inked by Denver as a free agent following a two-year, uneventful stint in Philly. Next to Sanchez was rangy rookie Paxton Lynch. The Memphis product had just been drafted with the 26th pick and represented Denver’s biggest opportunity for upside at the position. Lynch was big – bigger than Osweiler – and was supposedly loaded with raw talent. Behind the rookie was Trevor Siemian, who was – for all intents and purposes – a rookie himself. Siemian had earned a Super Bowl ring as the No. 3 quarterback behind Manning and Osweiler, doing so by famously (and only) taking a single snap to end the first half in Week 15. Siemian was an intellectual, but as the 250th pick in the 2015 Draft, nobody believed he had enough talent to realistically assume the job.

Nine years later, it’s nearly inconceivable that there’s a legitimate argument to be made for Siemian as the best Broncos quarterback after Manning.

And he wasn’t that good.

**

On the morning of August 12, 2024, the tired and grouchy residents of Broncos Country woke up with smiles on their faces, grins that were akin to the one Elway wore on the July 2016 edition of Mile High Sports. For the first time in a long time, there was hope.

Legitimate, beautiful hope.

Hope, as it had pertained to the Broncos, hadn’t necessarily been a total stranger in Denver, but its appearances were few and far between. And they certainly didn’t last long.

One of the great disadvantages of having two Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks under center for 20 of a football franchise’s 64-year existence is that its fans know exactly what a “good one” looks like. There was no fooling Broncos fans with the likes of Paxton Lynch, a washed-up Joe Flacco, Teddy “Two Gloves” Bridgewater or “Case Keesum,” whose actual name eluded even the man who signed him. As such, hope dies quickly when an intelligent fan base quickly realizes that fill-in-the-blank quarterback has no shot at getting their favorite team back to the Super Bowl.

The closest thing to real hope was when the Broncos finally stopped fooling around with underqualified rookies and pedestrian veteran free agents and went all in on Russell Wilson. Wilson not only had won a Super Bowl, but he did so at the expense of Broncos Country; he was a nine-time Pro Bowler and Walter Payton Man of the Year. Wilson, they hoped, could be reinvented – just like Manning – in Denver. Back to the Super Bowl he would take them. Las Vegas sharps reflected that hope that came with the acquisition of Wilson, as the Broncos odds of winning the Super Bowl jumped from 44-to-1 (on March 2 without Wilson), to 12-to-1 (on March 8 with him).

That hope dissolved quickly, however, as a bumbling, stumbling season under rookie head coach Nathaniel Hackett made Wilson look like a rookie himself. The next season, under Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton, the hope that surrounded Wilson returned. And it hung around for a while – until Payton yanked Wilson following a Christmas Eve loss that effectively killed the Broncos playoff hopes. Eight seasons removed from winning a Super Bowl, and after eight seasons in which the team didn’t make the playoffs, it was back to square one.

Back to the morning of August 12, 2024. Better yet, go back further to the evening of April 25, 2024.

To say that Bo Nix, who was drafted at No. 12 by the Broncos, instantly represented hope – at that time – would be an overstatement. Sure, there was optimism locally by some, but it was certainly not universal. Nationally, the Broncos selection of Nix was most often categorized as bit of a “reach.”

“Desperation forces teams to pick quarterbacks earlier than they should,” said Pete Prisco, a longtime NFL writer for CBS Sports. “Sean Payton obviously sees Drew Brees in him, but this is way early. Why not trade down and get him later?”

Nix was not only the last quarterback taken in the first round, but the last one taken until Spencer Rattler, who was selected by the Saints at No. 150. Was Nix in the same league as the No. 1 and 2 picks, USC’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, or was he more like Rattler? Or, as Prisco suggested, was Nix somewhere closer to the “middle” – possibly a late-first or even second-rounder, a la Lynch or Drew Lock, who Denver chose at No. 42 in 2019? Regardless of where anyone weighed in on Nix, he was anything but a consensus.

Longtime Denver sports radio personality, and more importantly, well-respected draft analyst Cecil Lammey dubbed Nix a “supercomputer.”

“Scouts I talk to say Nix is like a ‘supercomputer’ with the way he thinks about the game,” penned Lammey, offering some rationale behind why the young quarterback could be a fit for Payton. “Nix doesn’t have the rocket arm of other passers like North Carolina’s Drake Maye, but arm strength is one of the most overrated talents in the pre-draft process. Nix’s arm is strong enough, but what makes him fit for Payton has to do with what’s above the shoulders.”

Such a report might have provided optimism for some: Okay, so Nix, who had 61 starts on his high-level college football resumé, was brighter than former picks Lynch or Lock.

But the “supercomputer” moniker also gave pause to those who had grown tired of signal callers who were better in the playbook than in the pocket: See Siemian, or even the incumbent, Jarrett Stidham.

To say that hope – at least on the night of April 25 – was ever-present, would be patently false.

Since then, hope’s return has inched closer. Training camp is never a foolproof indicator, but by most accounts, Nix appeared to be the best quarterback on the roster. The Broncos, as they have annoyingly done more times than not since Manning’s departure, were intent on calling camp a “competition” at the quarterback position; whether he was tempted or not, Payton resisted the urge to hand Nix the reins right out of the gate. When the first official depth chart came out, the future of the franchise was listed as third. Given the slot at which he was drafted, paired with the rumblings out of camp that Nix looked good – if not the best quarterback on the roster – Broncos Country wasn’t buying what the coach was peddling.

As such, it surprised few onlookers when Nix – who didn’t get the start in the Broncos first preseason game against the Colts, but still entered the game second despite being third on the depth chart – got the majority of snaps and passing attempts.

It might have surprised them, however, how good their rookie truly looked.

Nix showed poise in his decision-making, as well as an ability to make something out of nothing with his legs. He went 15-for-21 against Indy, good for 125 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Most impressively, Nix was a part of five drives and led the offense to four scores – two touchdowns and two field goals. The only drive that didn’t result in a score only lasted one play – a completed pass to tight end Lucas Krull, who fumbled. His NFL quarterbacking debut landed smoothly with an impressive quarterback rating of 102.3 Statistics aside, Nix just looked the part – in command, calm, cool, collected.

Pat McAfee posted on X: “Bo Nix looked GREAT against the Colts.”

Said Robert Griffin III: “Bo Nix was the most efficient QB in his draft class because of his ability to process complex schemes with ease and the QUICK RELEASE you see on this TD throw.”

Former Broncos safety and member of the “No Fly Zone” T.J. Ward weighed in: “Bo Nix has to start day one. Let’s not forget his age. He’s more than mature enough. And has the almost pro hours of playing time under his belt.”

Whether he was playing against base defenses and second-stringers mattered not. It looked as if everyone watching had just caught a glimpse of their newest savior.

**

And just like that, on the morning of August 12, after just one preseason game, the floodgates opened, and hope rushed back into Broncos Country.

After that lone exhibition performance against the Colts, there was undoubtedly not enough data to suggest that Nix can be the next Elway or Manning, or even Jake Plummer. But there wasn’t any hard evidence that showed he couldn’t be, either.

For those who worried that Nix was simply a quarterback from the neck up, the Broncos “supercomputer” looked as if he was capable of NFL-caliber throws and was athletic enough to escape a play gone bad. At first glance, smart he was; Trevor Siemian he was not.

Then again, it was just one game – a preseason game, at that.

At the time of press, Nix was poised to get the start in preseason game No. 2 against the Packers. Where Nix ultimately landed on the depth chart, or whether or not Nix will get the start in Week 1 against Seattle, had all yet to be determined.

Perhaps Nix will go on to become a fixture for Denver’s most beloved sports franchise. Perhaps, like the 14 quarterbacks before him and since Peyton Manning, Nix will become the answer to a trivia question, a footnote, a blip on the Broncos stretch of futility.

Can Nix be the fix? Or, is he just another Band-Aid destined to lose his stick?

Jim Sargent of USA Today reports that 74 quarterbacks have been taken in the first round since 1999; only 28 of those picks (38 percent) wound up being franchise stalwarts, while 39 would up being disappointments. In that span, the Broncos first-rounders include Jay Cutler, Tim Tebow and Lynch – none of which fall successfully into the 38 percent. Whether or not they were “disappointments” is a matter of opinion; none of them finding themselves in the Broncos Ring of Fame is fact.

Where will Nix find himself on a similar list some years from now?

There’s a massive chasm between being third on the depth chart and entering the conversation with the likes of Elway and Manning. Common sense would suggest that even if a quarterback sticks around awhile, they’ll realistically land somewhere in the middle. Fascinatingly, Broncos history tends to show a more recent trend of “all” or “none.”

Regardless, if the early returns were any indication, Bo Nix represents something Broncos fans so desperately need in the here and now.

Hope.

**

Nix Pix

What does the immediate future hold for the Broncos rookie signal caller? Mile High Sports weighs in:
**

STAFF MEMBER	STARTS	TOTAL PASSING YARDS	TOTAL PASSING TOUCHDOWNS	TOTAL PASSING INTS
Shawn Drotar	17	3,757	23	11
Dan Mohrmann	17	3,457	24	15
Mark Knudson	9	2,001	12	6
Cody Roark	17	3,480	25	4
Doug Ottewill	13	3,250	19	10
Staff Average	14.6	3,189	20.6	9.2

Drotar Says…

Nix is as prepared to make the leap to the NFL as any college quarterback ever, following a record 61 career starts. He and Payton share a preferred playing style – quick-hitting strikes designed to get receivers in space, particularly using the middle of the field. Major questions revolving around the running back corps and the tight end trio may do more to define Nix’s season than his own play, however.

Mohrmann says…

I don’t think Nix has the rookie year like Justin Herbert had in 2020, but I think he’s far from the ‘sixth best’ rookie quarterback this year. He will be a bright spot in an otherwise rough season.

Knudson says…

In a perfect world, Zach Wilson opens the season under center while Bo Nix watches and learns. (Editor’s note: This assessment was given after preseason Week 1 when Nix was still the “No. 3” quarterback on the depth chart.) Wilson plays well, shows he’s not the ‘deer in the headlights’ mess he was in NYC. Then before the trade deadline on Nov. 5, the Broncos trade Wilson to a contender that needs a QB and Nix takes over. No pressure, just opportunity.

Roark says…

Nix’s processing and football IQ will allow him to play free and get the ball out of his hands quickly. If his receiving options stay healthy this year and the run game is better than last season, he’ll be able to capitalize on things the offense wasn’t able to last year. I expect that he’ll look extremely comfortable in Payton’s system and Broncos fans will see that on a weekly basis.

Ottewill says…

I like Bo Nix. Ultimately, I think he’ll be a great fit for Payton. However, there’s a decent chance Denver starts 0-4. Seattle is a tough opener for anyone. The Steelers game is risky, as a Russell Wilson win and a Bo Nix loss makes the Broncos look silly. The Bucs aren’t great, but the Broncos rarely play well in early games in Florida. And if Aaron Rodgers is healthy, he’ll be in midseason form by Week 4. Why subject the rookie to that? My gut tells me Payton lets someone else take the early lumps (Editor’s note: Oops.) as the fans get hungrier and hungrier to see their savior.