ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Hey, there’s Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix courtside on the Denver Nuggets recreation. There he’s once more, tossing out the primary pitch earlier than a Colorado Rockies recreation.
He additionally runs a soccer camp at an area highschool. Nix is right here and there within the metropolis the place he says he needs to be, now and for what he hopes shall be lengthy into the long run.
“That is the place I stay, that is the norm,” Nix mentioned. “I’ll discover a technique to not solely embrace it and revel in it however not take it as a right. I am in a terrific spot. Denver is an unbelievable metropolis.”
Nix arrived a 12 months in the past because the twelfth choose of the 2024 NFL draft, representing hope for a Broncos franchise that has struggled to search out quarterback stability since Peyton Manning retired following the 2015 season. He grew to become the primary Denver rookie quarterback to start out a season opener since Corridor of Famer John Elway — and beginning each recreation final season. He ranked sixth within the NFL with 29 landing passes, serving to the Broncos finish an eight-year playoff drought.
As Nix works by his first full NFL offseason, he is aware of what awaits as he tries to construct on a profitable rookie season and proceed his march to be the Broncos’ long-term quarterback. He says he has already discovered concerning the bodily calls for of profession longevity and is dedicated to taking good care of his physique — he even had offseason arthroscopic surgical procedure on his ankle — in preparation for the upcoming season.
He additionally is aware of teammates would possibly look to him to supply just a little extra and that opposing defensive coaches — maybe shocked by his success final season — will dissect his recreation. He needs his rookie season to be step one to one thing way more substantial.
“I have never finished something up till this level, and I’ve quite a bit to show and quite a bit to indicate,” Nix mentioned. “You do not need to get to Yr 2 or go down the highway, and rapidly you bought caught and did not get any higher.”
JUST LIKE HIS traditional routine in Denver, Nix has been a dependable presence across the Broncos’ advanced this offseason. A lot in order that basic supervisor George Paton joked earlier within the offseason that Nix must be instructed when he needed to go residence.
That does not shock those that performed with Nix earlier than he arrived in Denver.
“He is like one other coach,” mentioned Cardinals edge rusher Jordan Burch, a teammate of Nix’s at Oregon earlier than being drafted within the third spherical of this 12 months’s draft. “[He’s] severe on a regular basis, nice chief … I wasn’t shocked in any respect by something he did final 12 months. Simply the best way he carries himself, if he will get an opportunity, he’ll do no matter it takes to take advantage of it for everyone.”
Former Oregon receiver Tez Johnson — a seventh-round choose by the Buccaneers in April who calls Nix his brother and regards the Nixes as his adopted household — mentioned the offseason following Nix’s rookie 12 months would present the Broncos’ group extra concerning the quarterback than the 18 video games he began final season, together with the playoff loss to the Buffalo Payments.
“I’ve seen it since I used to be adopted, since I’ve identified him,” Johnson mentioned. “He ready like he was within the league lengthy earlier than he was within the league. He’ll put together like he is within the Tremendous Bowl each week, he’ll all the time have a look at how he performs and have a look at what defenses will do in opposition to him. He is not afraid — he by no means shall be — to take a look at what he must do even when it is uncomfortable.
“These sorts of individuals succeed, you already know?”
SOME OPPOSING DEFENSIVE coaches have privately mentioned that many within the league have been initially caught off guard by Nix’s pace and creativity as a runner. Even Broncos coach Sean Payton admitted his teaching employees was shocked, too. That won’t be the case shifting ahead in defending Nix, who ran for 430 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2024.
“I all the time take pleasure in this a part of it … you see completely different appears primarily based on who you play from an opponent standpoint,” Payton mentioned. “One among his traits that I feel serves him nicely is his ft. He can transfer. It is not all the time a clear pocket. I feel when it will get just a little muddy, he makes good selections. He does not maintain onto the ball. … We anticipate that to be the identical.”
Nix has additionally been looking for details about throws that defenses will strive to remove within the coming season whereas persevering with to hone those that labored greatest. He confirmed a excessive consolation stage with crossing routes — solely the Lions’ Jared Goff had extra passing yards on crossing routes final season than Nix (693 to Nix’s 651). Nix additionally ranked fifth in passing yards on display performs (467 yards). These are brief and intermediate performs that opposing coaches will doubtless attempt to take away from Nix’s progressions to power him to throw extra outdoors the numbers, towards the sidelines.
Nix has checked out each dropback in 2024, when he accomplished 66.3% of his passes (fifteenth within the NFL) for 3,775 yards with 29 landing passes to 12 interceptions whereas being sacked 24 occasions. He has even polled Broncos’ defensive coaches, most notably defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, about how opponents would possibly modify.
“Being round ‘VJ’ for a 12 months and understanding the protection that I’ll get [in specific situations] is quite a bit higher,” mentioned Nix of his means to see the general image of the Broncos’ playcalls.
Nix mentioned he additionally discovered the worth of resting his physique early within the offseason, which included taking a break from throwing a soccer. Despite the fact that he did not miss a recreation in 2024, he handled a painful again harm over the last six weeks of the season — he suffered three transverse course of fractures in a Week 12 win over the Raiders — and had arthroscopic ankle surgical procedure instantly after the season was over.
However he has been totally engaged within the Broncos’ OTA practices and is predicted to be the identical for subsequent week’s necessary minicamp — the Broncos’ closing on-field work of their formal offseason program.
“It is simply lots of winding down and getting your physique proper,” Nix mentioned. “That does not imply fixing issues which might be damage. It is similar to giving your legs some relaxation and never operating day by day. Giving your shoulder some relaxation and never throwing. I did not throw a soccer for some time, however I used to be doing lots of shoulder care and arm care and doing a little rotational work and doing various things that have been sort of changing the throw.
“That was good as a result of I used to be in a position to do one thing completely different, work on my mechanics and tighten some issues up. I wasn’t simply on the market losing throws. … [I’m] feeling good and feeling robust. Going to proceed that all through the summer time.”
