In 2024, Bo Nix helped the Denver Broncos post a commanding 28-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Analyst Daniel Jeremiyah said this was a quarterback who had “winner traits.”
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Two years later, as head coach Sean Payton made the drastic decision of taking back playcalling duties from Davis Webb, Jeremiyah thought Nix’s performance has also played a role.
“Well, I mean, to me, that’s almost more of a mentality thing with the quarterback and getting Bo Nix to play a little bit more free, a little more aggressive,” said Jeremiah on the October 10 episode of The Rich Eisen Show. “I don’t know if it was really a design issue. I think Davis Webb has done that to a decent degree. It’s just getting Bo Nix to kind of get his stinger back and get him to just let it rip and play more aggressive. And maybe that’s just as simple as that’s the voice, that you’re getting in your ear throughout the week.
“I think they got guys open. You can watch the tape, and you’re like, there’s guys there. He’s not throwing the football. So that’s again, that’s not the play design. It’s not the play call. It’s not the timing. It’s just he’s got to be aggressive.”
Jeremiah’s claim came after he observed Nix through the first four weeks of the 2026 season. The latest proof was the Broncos’ 24-14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, where Nix’s aggressiveness was absent.
He went 25-of-42 for 214 yards and a touchdown against the 49ers in Week 4, but his production came largely through shorter throws. He completed just two passes of more than 20 yards. RJ Harvey led all pass-catchers with 10 receptions, while Nix averaged 5.1 yards per attempt, compared to Brock Purdy’s approximate 7.3.
Through four games, Nix has averaged only 204.8 passing yards.
“I think the question for him and Davis Webb — because it’s not on Davis Webb this game — is: ‘Why aren’t you throwing the ball downfield when I’m creating chunk throws?” former quarterback and now analyst Dan Orlovsky said.
More glaringly, though, Nix has not been using his rushing skills. He has rushed for only 25 yards through four games, when he was averaging nearly 21 rushing yards per game last season.
Nix returned this year after an ankle injury suffered last year, which makes the lack of rushing yards somewhat understandable. But this is perhaps too conservative for an offense that once belonged to Sean Payton.
“I want to be aggressive,” Nix said on October 7. “… But at the same time, too many times I’ve been trying to do too much. In this day and age in our offense, I don’t have to be a hero on every play. I don’t have to do too much.”
Nix said his improved ability to read the field has reduced his need to run, explaining, “I’m seeing the field better and I know where my outlets are and I’m getting to them faster.” He added that the change is “just a product of being in the system for three years.”
Now that Payton steps up with the headset, Nix will have to fix his gameplay.
“Not really sure if I had a sense or anything like that,” said Webb, accepting the decision. “We had a productive talk on Monday. I know I mentioned it yesterday, we talked about an hour. I know it wasn’t probably easy for him, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how we respond this week. I think any time that happens in any aspect of your life, job-wise, it is a little bit. But same breath, that’s the NFL, you get going. Been a backup QB, been up and down before, and that’s kind of how it goes.”
Webb was previously the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach, which means Nix should have had an even more productive first four games in his third year in the league. But the Broncos’ offense looks uncharacteristically tempered in 2026.
Will Nix and Co. find their spark with Sean Payton calling the plays once again? We will have to wait and watch.