Bo Nix became a ‘shining example’ to teammates as a rookie

Bo Nix will need a bit more time to show whether he is a transformative quarterback for both the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton’s legacy. One year wasn’t going to provide all of the answers, even if they had been spectacular ones.

But he did prove to be transformative in how the Broncos perceive themselves and their hopes for success. He did enough to help turn an 0-2 start into a 10-7 finish and the team’s first postseason appearance in nine years. And while other Broncos players earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections — including right guard Quinn Meinerz becoming a first-team All-Pro — none were more impactful to the overall landscape than Nix.

That’s why he’s my choice as the Broncos offensive player of the year. He’s also the Rookie of the Year for 2024, but seems beyond obvious.

It came down to three choices: Nix, Meinerz and Courtland Sutton. In Meinerz’s favor was becoming the only Broncos first-team All-Pro selection on offense since Super Bowl XLVIII. That season saw Peyton Manning and Louis Vasquez become first-team All-Pro selections. For Sutton, it was a continued renaissance that built on his career-high 10 touchdown catches in 2023; with a career-high 81 receptions for 1,081 yards and 8 scores, he posted his first 1,000-yard campaign since tearing his ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season at Pittsburgh.

But for Nix, who ranked 18th among 32 eligible quarterbacks in passer rating and ESPN QBR, 16th in EPA/play and 21st in success rate, it went beyond the numbers.

“From right away, Bo captured this locker room by the way that he works, by the person that he is and the way that he progressed,” right tackle Mike McGlincheys aid. “It takes a lot of hard work to get better week in and week out. And it takes a lot of focus, and a lot of guys aren’t ready to commit themselves to that.

“And I think Bo is certainly our shining example of that, and it permeated through our locker room. And I think the improvement from him going forward is just going to be exponential.”

Defensive players such as fellow team captain Alex Singleton saw it, too. He noticed a “huge jump” from Nix over the course of Year 1.

“There times in camp that I knew, like, “Oh, this is a guy. This is going to be the guy.” And he showed it really early, really fast,” Singleton said.

“I think that Tampa [Bay] game kind of solidified what he can do and what we could be as a team and the guys ran with that and it clicked all year. It was special.

“And obviously [a 31-7 loss] wasn’t the outcome you want in a playoff game. But yeah, he took giant leaps every single game. And I think that the second year of a player will show how much development he really has.”

And then the final layer of frosting on the cake was his willingness to play through three transverse process fractures in his back. The full game he played through the pain — a 41-32 win over Cleveland — wasn’t Nix’s best, to be certain. But it did see perhaps his single finest throw — the missile to an in-stride Marvin Mims Jr. that became a 93-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.

“Man, he’s tough as nails. He’s tough as nails and he’s a great guy,” running back Jaleel McLaughlin said. “Great, great person. That just shows the type of person he is to put his body on the line for this team and it’s great. That dude’s great. He’s gonna continue.”

In one year, Nix became the heartbeat of the locker room, complete with occasional bursts of fire. The Broncos are his team now, and they’ll go where he takes them.

Since that has already brought them back to the postseason, Nix is a well-deserved choice for the team’s offensive player of the year.

RANKING BO NIX AND THE BRONCOS BY AV

Per Pro Football Reference‘s AV — “Approximate Value” — metric, Nix posted the highest single-season AV for a Broncos offensive player in 10 years. Nix’s AV of 13 was the best since Peyton Manning’s figure of 14 in 2014.

Such figures were once commonplace for Broncos quarterbacks. Between 1973 and 2014, there were 19 single-season AVs of at least 13 from Broncos quarterbacks alone. Only in the last decade did things go sideways.

The Broncos’ top offensive finishers in AV were as follows:

• QB Bo Nix: 13
• RG Quinn Meinerz: 11
• WR Courtland Sutton: 10
• LT Garett Bolles: 7
• RT Mike McGlinchey: 6
• LG Ben Powers: 6
• RB Javonte Williams: 6
• WR Marvin Mims Jr.: 5
• C Luke Wattenberg: 5
• RB Jaleel McLaughlin: 4
• WR Devaughn Vele: 4

COMING WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY: BRONCOS DEFENSIVE AND SPECIAL-TEAMS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

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