Bo Nix becomes first Broncos rookie Week 1 captain since Floyd Little

Bo Nix is already a leader. So the fact that he was named a Denver Broncos team captain in advance of their Week 1 game against the Seattle Seahawks isn’t a surprise.

But the symbolism of Nix being a captain — along with the other five captains announced by the Broncos on Wednesday morning — cannot be overstated.

Nix is the Broncos’ first rookie Week 1 captain in 57 years. The last player to do it was nicknamed “The Franchise,” Floyd Little himself, an eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer who remains the most important draft choice in Broncos history. (John Elway, of course, was acquired via trade.) He is also the first rookie captain ever on a Sean Payton-coached team.

Crucially, Nix was chosen by a player vote.

You’ve read and heard time and again in recent weeks about how Bo Nix has impressed his teammates. The vote and his status as captain is the deed that underscores the words.

HC Sean Payton has announced our 2024 captains as chosen by the players.

📰 » https://t.co/FuPPfQx7Po pic.twitter.com/oZg10ZSX2K

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 4, 2024

BO NIX BEING A CAPTAIN REFLECTS A GROWING TREND

And that is the trend of having Week 1 rookie starting quarterbacks immediately become captains.

It was virtually non-existent before 2020. The NFL instituted the prominent captains program in 2007, putting “C” patches on the jerseys of players who earned the designation. And up to 2019, all 22 Week 1 rookie starting quarterbacks were not captains, a span that ran from Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in 2008 through Kyler Murray in 2019.

That changed in 2020, when Cincinnati named No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow a team captain prior to his initial start that season. And since then, the norm has become to make a Week 1 rookie starting QB a captain.

Bo Nix joins Burrow, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and the Jets’ Zach Wilson in 2021 and three quarterbacks last year — Carolina’s Bryce Young, Houston’s C.J. Stroud and Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson — as captains from the jump. Chicago’s Caleb Williams holds that distinction this year, too. As of Wednesday morning, Washington had not yet announced whether No. 2 overall pick and Week 1 starter Jayden Daniels would have the “C” patch.

This is the new normal, for teams to go all-in on their rookie QBs.

NIX IS ONE OF FIVE FIRST-TIME BRONCOS CAPTAINS

Joining Nix are kicker Wil Lutz, guard Quinn Meinerz, linebacker Alex Singleton, cornerback Pat Surtain II and wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Sutton is the only returning captain; he’s in his fourth season with the distinction. Lutz, Meinerz, Singleton and Surtain will wear the Broncos captain patch for the first time.

Surtain and Meinerz agreed to massive contract extensions this year. Their status as captains reflects how this is becoming their team — just as it’s becoming Nix’s team.

It is truly a new era in Broncos Country.