Broncos offensive coordinator has high praise for rookie Bo Nix

The Denver Broncos haven’t said exactly how much Bo Nix will play in the team’s first preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday but the coaching staff seems to be pretty happy with their first-round rookie quarterback.

Nix, 24, is fighting with another 24-year-old former first-round pick Zach Wilson and journeyman incumbent Jarrett Stidham for the starting gig come Week 1 against the Seahawks. As of now, Nix is third in the competition according to the depth chart—although head coach Sean Payton doesn’t want you thinking that the way the roster looks right now means anything given all the rookies are at the bottom of their positions.

Start or not in Indy, Nix is expected to get his first NFL action at some point in the exhibition.

“I think it’s just comfort level with just the operation,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said of Nix on Thursday. “He’s really instinctive and so playing football has been good from jump. It’s just the getting the huddle calls, some of the checks at the line of scrimmage. The more you see that, the better you get and he’s just getting more comfortable.”

Nix played for two very different colleges before turning pro. First at Aurbun where his father was a legend and later for Oregon where he blossomed into a Heisman hopeful. Those experiences and the amount of game action he saw as a five-year starter likely puts Nix in a pretty good spot to pick up Payton and Lombardi’s system.

“We had a pretty good install the last three days. He’s had to restart some of that, but he’s everything that you hoped for with his intelligence, and the way he studies and prepares,” Lombardi went on. “It’s really just the comfort level. When you give him a play, and it’s new and the defense has a new install, there’s a little bit of a… Not as much confidence when he gets it and you look in his eyes. After a couple of days when you’re running the same plays, you just feel like he’s a veteran. So just the comfort level.”

As for what Lombardi hopes to see from Nix and the others playing quarterback on Sunday?

“Just a clean operation and just playing good football with the situation that’s presented to them,” he said. “There’s not a ton of game planning that goes into these games. You take a peak at the team you’re about to play, and really you’re picking your install plays that fit that team versus like, ‘Hey, [if] we see this look we’re going to change this formation,’ or, ‘We’re going to add this route that we have in practice.’ You’re in there with a lot of different guys. The way that guys work together, it’s a little bit different than maybe during the season where you’re practicing with the same guys and you know who you’re throwing the routes to. [There] can be a little more uncertainty maybe than a regular season game. So handle all that, and make good decisions and take the plays that are there. If we call a bad play, make sure nothing bad happens. Just operate well with the conditions that are given.”

“… . It’s really just the comfort level when you give him a play and it’s new and the defense has a new install. There’s a little bit of not as much confidence when he gets it, when you look in his eyes. And then after a couple of days, when you’re running the same plays, you…

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) August 8, 2024

When Lombardi talked in the afternoon he shared that the coaches didn’t yet know what the plan was in terms of playing the quarterbacks but that it should be all in order before Friday.