Bo Nix Offers 3-Word Reaction to Broncos’ Unofficial Depth Chart

The Denver Broncos did not draft Bo Nix with the No. 12 overall pick of the 2024 draft to be their third-string quarterback.

Nix even took a healthy share of the first-team reps in practice with head coach Sean Payton cutting the split from three QBs to two. However, when the team released its initial unofficial depth chart on August 6, Nix was third behind Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson.

The rookie is taking it all in stride.

“Couldn’t care less,” Nix told reporters the following day when asked if he’d paid attention to the buzz from his first-team reps, repeating that answer about the depth chart itself.

It is a bit of a shift for Nix. He said he began playing football in the seventh grade and has been a starter since the ninth grade. He also set the NCAA record for starts with 61 in his five-year career. That eight-year run is in jeopardy on paper.

But Nix knows he cannot lose focus just because he is not QB1 on the depth chart right now.

“I better [stay focused] or I’m not going to be running with the 1’s anymore,” Nix said. “Every day you got to be consistent no matter what group you’re going with.

“Quarterback’s job is to be a leader at all times and get everybody going in the right direction. And so it starts off the field. And when you get on the field, making sure your operation, your huddle — whatever group you’re going with — looks the best.”

Nix said that things are starting to slow down for him in practice.

He is becoming more comfortable with the play calls and has already embraced an approach to managing outside expectations.

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Broncos’ Bo Nix ‘Not Looking’ at Outside Expectations’

“One, it’s not looking at it. Not seeing what everybody says and not trying to go out there and find it,” Nix said. “At the end of the day, nobody has a higher expectation than myself. Nobody has a higher standard for how I play than me. So I think that’s just kind of the most important thing, is you’re not falling back on those that are just seeing parts of it. You’re truly internally challenging yourself and trying to be the best that you can be.

“Most of the time they can see a throw and they may know about 25% of what actually was going in that throw. So I don’t necessarily want to put too much into the outside noise and just continue to play my game.”

Nix’s game is why he was projected to fit well with the Broncos and Payton long before the draft.

His quick processing and accuracy in the short and intermediate areas align with what Payton wants from quarterbacks. He is also good at compartmentalizing.

“I learned along the way you’re going to miss one – often,” Nix said. “You just got to move on, and feel like I’ve been better at moving on and just not letting it bother me and affect the next play.”

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Jarrett Stidham: Bo Nix Has ‘No Choice’ in Rookie Duties

Reporters asked Stidham what Nix’s rookie duties entailed and the sixth-year veteran happily obliged.

“So he’s got a carry our pads; that’s a mandatory. Pretty much anything that goes wrong, I just blame him” Stidham told reporters on August 7. “If I forget something in my locker, I’ll make him go get it. Yeah, he’s pretty much — yeah, he’s got to do certain stuff for sure. And at whatever point we decide to do his rookie dinner, I will be getting a nice bottle of wine or something that he’s going to be paying for. I’ll make sure that’s a really, really nice dinner and I’ll be very, very happy and not hungry so it’ll be great.

“Whether or not if he is or if he isn’t [receptive to it], he doesn’t really have a choice. And sometimes he’ll kind of bicker a little bit back at me and I’m like, ‘Bo, we have literally all done this before.’”

Stidham said he often teases Nix and Wilson, who have both made more money on their rookie contracts than he has in his career.

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