Denver Broncos, Sean Payton Would be Boneheaded to Bench Bo Nix
The Broncos aren't going to bench Bo Nix, which is smart. He needs to work through this slump.
Bo Nix isn’t going to be benched by Sean Payton.
That would be Bo-neheaded.
Plus, that kind of move is extremely rare in the NFL today.
Not even Kirk Cousins, who’s starting in front of No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza hasn’t been benched for the rookie.
And Denver doesn’t have a dazzling future quarterback of the organization on their bench. It’s Jarrett Stidham. Who we all saw flounder in the AFC Championship Game last year.
Rich Kurtzman
Bo Nix Won’t be Benched, Which Makes Sense
This isn’t the 1990s.
Most backup quarterbacks aren’t ready to go in to a game in the middle of the season.
That’s because most starting quarterbacks get 90 percent of the reps during training camp in the summer and during the practices on game weeks.
For better or worse, the entire offense is put on starting quarterbacks’ shoulders these days.
And that makes sense.
Quarterback is the most-important position in the NFL and American sports for a reason. They have to know every play in the playbook — or at least all the plays from the game plan for that week — which means understanding where every player on the offense will be at all times. Then they have to know what the defense is likely to call to stop their offense, and how to check to a better play when need be.
And just like we’ve seen all year long, the offense goes as the quarterback goes. Or in Nix’s case, when he struggles so does that entire unit.
In Week 1, he played the worst game of his NFL career in the loss to the Chiefs. That, per passer Pro Football Focus grade and QBR.
And it hasn’t gotten much better over the next five weeks.
In fact, he was so bad, Davis Webb lost his play-calling duties after Week 4. And when Payton took over against the Chargers, fans far and wide laughed at Payton’s “genius” because the offense was still inept.
However, Payton is changing things and helped Nix at least play a bit better in the win over the Seattle Seahawks.
Payton’s great game plan was to be more aggressive, to limit Nix’s time to throw, and to call a variety of run plays which kept the Seahawks off-balance.
That led to 14-first half points and an early lead.
By the end of the game, Denver amassed a mere 168 total yards and Nix played so poorly that Ryan Fitzpatrick called it an embarrassment to the position.
Oof.
But Nix said himself, in a weird way, that he’s not listening to all the noise. Nor is he listening to all the negativity in the media.
“Playing good and playing bad, it’s a narrative and I think it’s honestly kind of something we make up,” Nix said last week before the Seahawks game.
Uh, no Bo. Playing good or playing bad are determined by your stats. And yours stink right now, bro.
Through six games, Nix is 25th in passer rating (79.3), 30th in QBR (39.5), and 26th in EPA/play (-0.042).
Payton said in response to the criticism of Nix on Monday, “I try to focus on the next day here. We’re trying to focus on getting ready to play Arizona. That’s kind of where our attention is.”
Very Belichickian, Sean.
So What’s Up With Bo?
Nix has seemingly lost confidence in his arm and legs to start this 2026 season.
He’s not dropping back and letting the ball fly like he did in 2024 or 2025. He’s playing hesitant in terms of throwing it over the middle of the field — which is nothing new — as well as throwing the deep ball.
“We knew going into that [Seattle] game there were some challenging looks based on the way these guys feature their 2-deep, 2-high shell,” Payton explained of the lack of deep balls versus the Seahawks. “We’ll be able to get the ball down the field. I was able to listen to what Bo said specifically and certainly you come away from a game like that and you’re wanting a bit more or obviously a chunk play. That starts with me and us giving him those opportunities when they present itself.”
In coachspeak that’s, “Hey, I’m a football genius and knew we couldn’t attack them deep, they don’t allow that but we will be able to in future games.”
Payton’s doing a good job of protecting his quarterback here in this “intense” media environment.
I don’t remember the last time a media member asked if the Broncos starting QB would be benched. It may have happened in 2023, Payton’s first year and with Russell Wilson at quarterback.
If not then, almost certainly at some point when Drew Lock was starting.
But it’s not normal and not a good look for Nix.
It’s a distraction for him and the team after their Super Bowl window opened last year, seemingly a year early.
So, what’s up with Bo?
Besides not throwing it deep as often as last year, he’s continued to completely refuse to throw over the middle of the field. Jaylen Waddle was supposed to solve that deficiency, but hasn’t. And speaking of, Nix hasn’t fed Waddle enough to this point in the season. While Courtland Sutton has also become an afterthought.
You don't trade a first-round pick for a player to get 3 catches a game. They need to feed Waddle like the Rams feed Puka Nacua, or even how the 49ers were feeding Mike Evans before he got hurt last night.
Finally, Nix isn’t running the ball like he was in his first two years. He was averaging 25.3 rushing yards and 2.5 first downs per game as a rookie, then 21 yards and 1.5 first downs per game last year. Now he’s down to 6.2 yards per game and one first down.
Is he worried about breaking his ankle again? It seems likely, at least a little bit. He could also get hurt other ways when running.
Or it’s possible Davis Webb told him to run less this year; Webb did call the plays for the first four games. Or maybe Nix was told by Payton. His injury did end the Broncos hopes at a Super Bowl last year, even if they were slim against the Seahawks.
But opening him up to be more multidimensional will help with his passing because defenses will have to honor his running ability.
How will Payton Fix Nix?
That’s the million-dollar question. Well, the $50 million per year question.
If he's going to be the Denver Broncos franchise quarterback and make $50-plus million a year, Nix has to improve. Simple as that.
Payton's talked about it all season, how to fix Nix.
“He’s going to become the byproduct of all the finer things that get improved,” Payton said on Monday. “The improved play from our offensive line, the more efficient we are relative to balance, running the football. That’s our jobs as coaches here. We talked after the game about where excited to get that in, and yet at the same time find that improvement we need in all areas. So, it starts with all of us.”
Basically, Payton says if the Broncos block better and run better, Nix will be better throwing the ball.
In part, he's right.
The offensive line is 23rd in pass block win rate, at 47%. They're allowing too many pressures on Nix, and he's playing scared, running out of the pocket at the first sight he may be touched.
And the run game has been abysmal; Denver's 3.4 yards per carry are 30th. Though there are signs it's ticking up. They averaged 4.6 yards per carry against the Chargers, a season-high for a game, but fell back to earth at 3.08 YPC vs. Seattle. However, the run game was working well on both of Denver's first half touchdowns last Thursday.
But even if those things do get fixed, Nix still has to start making throws and taking a few more risks. He's checking it down at an absurd rate and playing to not lose games instead of playing to win them.
It seems like what's hurting Nix isn't his ankle or anything physical, it's the 6" between his ears.
"All the other things relative to the mental toughness, the mental fortitude. This is a tough league. We hit every aspect, and I think that’s one of the things that attracted us to Bo in the beginning is we had seen his ability to climb through adversity," Payton said on Monday. "It’s not just Bo that feels that. Right now, offensively, I feel that, our players feel that and we’ll improve.”
So Bo, let's see you climb through this adversity once again. There's 11 games left in the season to prove yourself.
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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
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