Being just two wins away from bypassing Vegas' win-total prediction with 10 games still to go, the Denver Broncos are playing well beyond the baseline expectation for this season. With the strength of a dominating defense, clutch and consistent special teams play, and a growing offense, Denver appears to be a squad more likely to earn a Wildcard berth than it is to be picking in the top 10 of the 2025 NFL draft.
Obviously, a team's goal each season is to win its division, make the playoffs, and attempt to be the last team standing holding the Lombardi Trophy. That goal did not seem like a feasible one for a 2024 Broncos squad playing so many young players, held down by a heap of dead-money hits on the salary cap from the Russell Wilson release, and a few lean years with limited early draft picks now being felt across the depth chart.
While many hoped the Broncos could be competitive, outside of the most positive fans and those within the building, this season was more about figuring out whether rookie Bo Nix could become a franchise-caliber quarterback and developing him.
The Broncos have shocked people this season (especially the defense), but seven weeks into the season, just where does Nix's development stand as the No. 12 overall pick?
On a recent episode of CBS Sports' podcast With the First Pick, Ryan Wilson and long-time Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman broke down the stock reports of the NFL rookie quarterbacks thus far. With Washington’s Jayden Daniels having a historic rookie season prior to suffering a rib injury this past week, Chicago's Caleb Williams emerging and starting to look like the guy many dubbed as one of the better quarterback prospects in the past decade, and New England's Drake Maye flashing big-time throws, arm talent, and athleticism, the duo shared its view fo Nix so far this season.
Unfortunately, Nix’s play on the field has not impressed either just yet. When asked whether Nix is getting better compared to where he was coming out of college, Spielman stated he believed Nix is “taking a step back,” with Wilson agreeing, and stating he's yet to see the obvious progress on the field in college-to-NFL jump that the other rookie quarterbacks have shown to date.
With Wilson touching on Nix’s struggles with his footwork, Spielman homed in on the rookie's pocket presence.
“The one thing is he’s driving in the pocket. He’s seeing ghosts in the pocket. When he doesn’t, he can step up and throw. The biggest thing, and Sean Payton talked about it, why he loved Bo Nix so much is because of his accuracy. Well, I don’t see the accuracy right now, especially when he can’t set his feet... I thought he had struggled, especially with his accuracy when he gets outside the pocked trying to create second-chance throws or off-schedule throws. He’s just not the guy we saw at Oregon," Spielman said.
Spielman would go on and dismiss the types of throws Nix was making, saying that he can throw bubble screens and utilize RPOs and throw slants, but right now, the dropback game is simply not there with any sort of consistency required.
“[Nix] has got to settle down and he has to do a better job with his footwork in the pocket, and he has to throw with better accuracy and he hasn’t thrown with accuracy… He missed too many receivers, too many guys are adjusting to off-target throws. I didn’t think it was a good game at all from Nix," Spielman said.
While both Spielmen and Wilson would applaud Nix’s athleticism, rushing for 75 yards last week, both were also flabbergasted by his missed throws to Adam Trautman and Troy Franklin, calling it “one of the worst misses” they could recall in an NFL game.
The Broncos' run game and the usage of Nix in the rushing design against a defense that simply looked like it gave up in tackling last week is hopefully a sign of life for the offense going forward, but it would be hard to peg either Wilson or Spielmen as believers in this team or offense given their belief that Nix has “steadily declined these last couple weeks when we thought he was trending in the upward direction.”
Bottom Line
Fortunately for Nix, the Broncos, and the fans, it's still extremely early in his professional NFL career. He has things to work on and is not playing as well as a passer as any of the top-3 quarterbacks selected in the 2024 draft.
That shouldn't be shocking, given the QBs in question went No. 1, 2, and 3 overall, respectively, and Nix was the sixth quarterback off the board at No. 12 overall. Even if Wilson and Spielmen are not overly enthused about Nix to date, he still has plenty of time to continue to improve.
With Payton fully endorsing and supporting Nix, and the solid infrastructure of the offensive line, run game, defense, and special teams surrounding and supporting him, he still has a long leash to calm down, refind his accuracy, and prove to be the passer Broncos Country hopes he can become.
