NFL QB Rankings 2026: Where Denver Broncos Bo Nix Lands
The NFL QB rankings for 2026 are coming out. Where does Denver Broncos Bo Nix land on the list according to many in the national media?
Denver Broncos Bo Nix is a rising talent.
Broncos Country overwhemlingly loves Nix. That's no surprise; he's the team's most-important player.
But there's no doubt Broncos Country is looking at him through orange-tinted glasses. Some in the fanbase put Nix in the Top-10 among today's quarterbacks, and a few even think he's a Top-5 QB right now.
Meanwhile, those in the national media—who aren't biased toward the Broncos—basically all put him around 20th-best.
We heard from Mina Kimes, Denny Carter, and Scott Spratt earlier in the offseason when comparing Nix to Caleb Williams. They all think Williams is better two years into their respective careers.
There's no doubt Bo Nix is growing—he was the best QB in negative play rate last year—but the red flags keep popping up too.
Simply, he's too inconsistent to be considered a Top-10 QB right now, and that may end up being his ceiling. But even where he was at last year, which was right around 20th, was good enough to push the Broncos to the AFC Championship Game.
If he continues to improve, which he likely will, Denver will be in a good enough place at quarterback to legitimately compete for Super Bowls going forward. That is, if they continue to have an elite defense in the short term.
Both NFL on FOX and ESPN call Bo Nix the Broncos X-factor going into 2026. If Denver is to make the playoffs and go deep in them, he has to play great. Better than in 2025.
Where Denver Broncos Bo Nix Lands in National QB Rankings
The NFL offseason is in full swing, and that means national outlets are putting out their QB rankings.
Nix is closer to 20th than he is 10th in all the rankings.
NFL.com: 18th
This list from NFL.com is from February but is still valid since they haven't played any games since. Plus, it came right at the end of the 2025 season when everything was still fresh.
They put Nix at 18th, which is in their Tier 3 along with Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Hurts, and C.J. Stroud.
From the article:
Bo Nix didn't find a true sense of consistency until after Thanksgiving, diluting his overall 2025 résumé. Still, if what we saw from Nix down the stretch is a preview of his future, Broncos fans have plenty of reason to be excited.
It's true. That Green Bay game was a masterclass by Nix. And then he was superb in the Divisional Round win over the Buffalo Bills, too.
Pro Football Focus: 19th
PFF just released their rankings last week, which partly prompted this article.
Nix is 19th in their list as they explain,
It can be easy to forget about Bo Nix in the 2024 quarterback class, especially when Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were all selected with the first three picks. But Nix has developed into a quality starting quarterback. He led the Broncos to the AFC championship game but missed it after suffering a fractured ankle the previous week.
Nix’s 89.3 PFF passing grade from a clean pocket ranked seventh among qualifying quarterbacks last season, while his 77.6 career PFF passing grade ranks 14th among qualifiers. He also displayed a veteran-like ability to work through his progressions, ranking third in PFF passing grade on throws to his next read (78.1).
Interestingly, PFF says Nix is great at progressing through reads, while other analysts like Chase Daniel have said he isn't doing that well in the past.
"When I'm watching the game—and I know Sean Payton's offense—there's stuff open and he's just not seeing it...It's been a little troublesome, it's sort of carried over to this year and it hasn't gotten any better," Daniel said last November.
Of course, PFF grades are ones that are always contested by fans if they don't agree with their prior observations or biases. In this case, I'm guessing the "next read" grade will be loved by the "Bo-lievers" out there.
The Ringer: 21st
The Ringer is just about as high on Nix as everyone else, putting him middle of the pack at 21st overall.
And Steven Ruiz wasn't mincing words.
Nix was one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks in the fourth quarter, but he was mediocre outside of that, ranking outside the top 20 in both success rate and yards per dropback. Nix still gets the zoomies in the pocket, and he misses too many open throws downfield to get me to fully buy what Sean Payton is selling.
He also said Nix needs to improve his downfield throwing before moving up the rankings, which is certainly true.
Nix ran toward the line to throw deep many times in 2024 and 2025, which caused the ball to soar over open receivers' arms. But that's hopefully something he can somewhat easily remedy.
CBS: Borderline Star
CBS did their NFL QB rankings differently, breaking players into six tiers.
They are:
- Tier 1: Transcendent Talents
- Tier 2: Borderline Stars (Nix is here)
- Tier 3: Promising Prospects
- Tier 4: Volatile Veterans
- Tier 5: Prized Project (Fernando Mendoza)
- Tier 6: Holdovers and Placeholders
There are 5 stars in Tier 1, and then 12 players in Tier 2. They aren't numbered. But that puts Nix as high as 6th-best, and as low as 17th.
While last season was somewhat underwhelming from a production standpoint, Nix was nonetheless on the precipice of stardom until his ankle injury prevented him and the Broncos from reaching the Super Bowl. Nix leads the pack of promising young quarterbacks that are poised to take over the league at some point down the road.
The fact that Nix is a "Borderline Star" here is promising for Broncos fans. In some ways, he's close to breaking out and becoming a star, likely nearer Top-10 territory. In other ways, he's way too inconsistent. But the fact that they think he could be a star is a good sign.
My Ranking: 18th
From my piece in April, I laid out all these stats and where Bo Nix ranks.
Here's where Bo Nix's stats ranked in 2025:
- Passer rating: 26th (87.8)
- EPA/Play: 17th (.101)
- Success rate: 25th (44.7%)
- CPOE: 24th (-1.2)
- Air yards: 22nd (7.5)
- QBR: 16th (58.3)
- PFF passing grade: 14th (76.1)
- Sack percentage: 1st (3.47)
- Negative play rate: 1st (5.3%)
- Passing yards: 8th (3,931)
- Touchdowns: 9th (25)
- Interceptions: 31st (11)
- Completion percentage: 24th (63.4%)
Hey, I'm a Broncos fan. But if I try to look at his stats objectively, there are certainly places for him to improve.
His passer rating and QBR are too low, each of which are impacted by his low completion percentage. Given that the Broncos threw a ton of screens and other passes at or behind the line of scrimmage—as evidenced by his air yards (22nd)—his completion percentage should be way higher. Especially when considering he was the most-accurate passer in college his senior season at Oregon.
Nix's accuracy when throwing over 10 yards and especially when going for deep balls over 20 yards is very bad.
Joe Mahoney
And he needs to improve throwing the ball between the hashmarks over 10 yards.
From that "red flags" piece I wrote in April:
His intermediate throws were his lowest-graded in terms of passer rating (64.9) when compared to behind the line of scrimmage, short, and deep balls. And his 73.3 grade from Pro Football Focus made it his second-worst depth in 2025. It should be noted that grade improved a lot (59.4) vs. 2024, but is still a bit worrisome. Including that those intermediate throws represented 6 interceptions of his 11 on the season.
But where he excels is that negative play rate. The dude just simply doesn't take sacks, and hardly ever fumbles. I'd love to see Nix take even more advantage of his running abilities in Year 3, and that's when his surgically-repaired ankle will be put to the test.
It's also basically unquantifiable, but Nix has that "clutch gene" in him. The kid gets up when the game is on the line and oftentimes dominates late. Then again, why can't he play that great before the fourth quarter?
Overall, Nix needs to play with more consistency. He needs to hit more intermediate and deep throws. And continue to manage the game while also making those plays that kill defenses and the opposition.
I know that passer rating is a dated and somewhat incomplete stat, but I think a great goal for Bo Nix would be to average a 100 passer rating. 9 of 32 quarterbacks did so last year, and that includes the best guys in the league: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Matt Stafford, etc.
If Nix can take a step forward on completion percentage, especially on deep balls, and limit those interceptions, he should move into the Top-15, possibly up to around 12th this year.
Last year, I ranked Nix at No. 13 overall. He underperformed vs. that projection. Maybe he can Bo-verperform this year and come in around 13.
My 2026 NFL QB Rankings
- Josh Allen
- Matt Stafford
- Joe Burrow
- Lamar Jackson
- Patrick Mahomes
- Drake Maye
- Dak Prescott
- Jordan Love
- Justin Herbert
- Trevor Lawrence
- Brock Purdy
- Caleb Williams
- Jalen Hurts
- Jayden Daniels
- Jared Goff
- Baker Mayfield
- Sam Darnold
- Bo Nix
- C.J. Stroud
- Daniel Jones
- Kyler Murray
- Bryce Young
- Tua Tagoviloa
- Aaron Rodgers
- Cam Ward
- Kirk Cousins
- Fernando Mendoza
- Tyler Shough
- Geno Smith
- Jaxson Dart
- Malik Willis
- Deshaun Watson
- Jacoby Brissett
Thanks for reading! Please subscribe today. Or leave a tip in the tip jar!
PS: I was laid off from my full-time job in April. If you can, please leave a tip of any amount or sign up for a paid subscription to help support my family.
Follow The Broncos Blitz on Bluesky!
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.
Comments ()