Can Bo Nix take the next step? What the Broncos QB needs to work on this offseason

Bo Nix's rookie season was more than he thought it would be. The Broncos quarterback led his team to the playoffs and accounted for 33 touchdowns, but he knows he has plenty to work on in 2025.

Nix was the sixth quarterback selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he quickly emerged as the starter for the Broncos. He completed 66.3% of his passes for 3,775 yards and had a QBR of 56.9. His 29 passing touchdowns set a franchise rookie record and were the second-most by a rookie QB in NFL history, behind Justin Herbert's 31 for the Chargers in 2020.

Broncos coach Sean Payton said Nix never blinked when facing the challenge of being the first rookie starting QB of Payton's 17-season coaching career, helping the Broncos end an eight-year playoff drought. In the days after the loss to the Bills, Payton also said he believed Nix was the guy to lead the franchise into future battles in the rugged AFC. But more than anything, the Broncos feel Nix is the long-term solution for a franchise that has largely scuffled at the position since Hall of Famer Peyton Manning retired after the 2015 season.

“I've said it over and over again, [I've] been impressed every single week,” Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz said. “He continued to show improvement, and I think that's the only thing you can really ask for from a young player.”

Nix's quiet intensity and leadership earned the trust of his teammates and gave them faith that there are more big things coming. He turned plenty of heads in 2024 but enters his first offseason with plenty to work to do. What did we learn from his first season, and how can he take the next step?

“His resume speaks for itself,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “All he's done is gotten better.”

NIX WAS THE sixth quarterback selected last April in a historic draft at the position. His maturity quickly stuck out to Payton, who liked that the 24-year-old was the son of a coach and had plenty of experience from playing 61 college games over five seasons at Auburn and Oregon.

So it didn't take Nix very long to assert himself, emerging in a three-way competition with Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson before being named the starter on Aug. 21.

“We all came out of training camp knowing this guy was going to be special,” Broncos tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “You joke about [how] rookies should be seen and not heard and all that, but he just showed up tough, smart, and I've said -- put together. And that's how he was all season.”

Payton knew Nix was a fit for his offense and his unapologetically intense coaching style from their first face-to-face meeting at the 2024 scouting combine. But Nix, Payton and the Broncos' offense needed several games to find a rhythm.

Nix threw two interceptions in each of his first two starts and didn't throw a touchdown pass until a sloppy Week 4 win over the New York Jets. The Broncos completed only two passes of more than 30 yards in the first five weeks, and one of those came on a trick play.

And despite a reliance on short, low-risk passes in the early going, Nix didn't show the accuracy that he was known for at Oregon, where he set an NCAA record by completing 77.4% of his passes in 2023. He was 27th in the NFL in completion percentage at 62.6% after his first nine games. But those struggles gave Nix the opportunity to showcase his ability to move on and dig in to make repairs.

“Bo is a relentless quarterback, you could see that,” Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles said. “He never really wavered, he just kept going.”

Payton increasingly used play-action to create more opportunities for Nix to have success. Denver sparingly used it initially, ranking 25th in the first six weeks of the season (20.4%). But the Broncos surged to fourth in play-action from Week 7 on (31.4%) and finished ninth in the league for the season (27.6%).

By comparison, the Broncos finished 23rd in the league in play-action in 2023 at 21.8%, when they had Russell Wilson and Stidham at quarterback. Most of Payton's Saints teams hovered between 17% and 20% in play-action, with a high of 27.6% in the team's Super Bowl-winning season of 2009.

“As coaches, your job is to look at what you're doing and consider what's best, what puts players in the best position [to succeed].... Are we asking the right people to do the right things?” Payton said. “You're always doing that.”

Payton was also more open to having Nix run. The coach has admitted that Nix is a better runner than he expected, and he used him sporadically on called runs. Nix finished as the team's third-leading rusher (430 yards) and tied for the team lead in rushing touchdowns (four).

Nix has also been tough for opponents to sack, which is what Payton said he wanted in his QB when he decided to part with Wilson after the 2023 season. Nix was sacked 24 times, less than half of the 52 combined sacks Wilson and Stidham took the previous season.

The adjustments helped Nix throw 21 touchdown passes after Week 10, which tied the Bengals' Joe Burrow for third most in the NFL. He increased his QBR from 52.0 in Weeks 1-9 to 62.0 in Weeks 10-18. And both of Nix's 300-yard, four-touchdown games -- in Week 11 against Atlanta and the playoff clincher against the Chiefs in the season finale -- came after the schematic tweaks.

“Whether it's been a tough week or a good week, he's on to the next game and getting ready to go,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said. “He's been a real pro that way.”

Nix also showed an ability to spread the ball around, living up to a preseason vow he made to “get the ball to the right spots to the right people.” While Sutton (81 receptions for 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns) was the No. 1 option, seven Broncos had at least 20 receptions, and 10 different players caught touchdown passes from Nix.

NIX OFTEN TALKED about the firsts he encountered during his rookie season. He's now about to embark on another one -- his first NFL offseason.

Arguably his biggest task before next season begins is improving on third down. The Broncos converted 39.6% of third-down conversions, which was 13th in the NFL, but frequently had short possessions. Denver had the third-highest rate of three-and-out drives at 26.3%; only the 3-14 New York Giants and 5-12 Carolina Panthers went three-and-out more often.

Payton also wants to look at how the Broncos and Nix handled the pass rush. Nix had an in-pocket QBR of 53.9 (23rd in the league) and was 26th in the league with QBR of 56.0 when blitzed despite having one of the league's best pass-blocking offensive lines in front of him.

“There are things that he's going to look at and grow from and build on,” Payton said. “Whether it's third-down snaps, whether it's pressure snaps... the next two, three, four years, those are all important steps. I know he's going to be here quite a bit.”

Nix was back in the Broncos' facility in the days after the players had their medical exams and were formally sent into the offseason. General manager George Paton joked the team may simply have to tell Nix to go home -- that “you have to take a little break.”

Don't expect there to be much of one from Nix, as the playoff loss to the Bills and their MVP-candidate quarterback Josh Allen was a stark reminder of the battles he'll have in the future. He'll have to deal with the likes of Allen, Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Herbert and Burrow as the Broncos try to battle their way out of their own division and the AFC to build a Super Bowl season. Nix and the Broncos went 0-6 against those quarterbacks in 2024, including playoffs. So he'll have to do a lot to build on his productive rookie season and make the Broncos a regular playoff participant.

“As a competitor, I want to be urgent, and I want to grow and develop into where I can compete and I'm on the same level as those guys,” Nix said. “I'm not [there] right now. Pre-draft was like, 'What's your goal upcoming?' I wanted to help a team make a playoff and push for a Super Bowl. [We're] working hard to become one of those great teams.”