Bomani Jones had some strong words for Broncos QB Bo Nix

Bo Nix had a solid rookie campaign. There’s no debating that.

Yes, Sean Payton helped get Nix off the ground with an offensive scheme that featured a lot of screens and shorter route concepts, but the 25-year-old out of Oregon still did his part to go out there and execute. When the opportunity presented itself, Nix showed his ability to launch the ball over the moon down the field, but it wasn’t something that was utilized on every single pass attempt.

Nix received a lot of disrespect from the NFL world last year with people calling him a ‘check down merchant’ and saying how he wouldn’t have the same success if it weren’t for Payton’s scheme. Was he 2021 Aaron Rodgers slinging the ball all over the field and fitting it into the tightest of windows? No, but he still had plenty of good moments as he helped lead the Broncos to the franchise’s first playoff appearance in nine seasons.

Despite his successful rookie campaign, Nix still has plenty of people praying on his downfall, one of them being Bomani Jones, who used to be at ESPN as the co-host of “Highly Questionable” along with some other duties. Jones had some strong words for Nix the other day that raised questions about how much football he actually watches.

Noted @bomani_jones #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/yVKD28IVuT

— Denver Dan (@DorkDraft) July 21, 2025

“I am not a Bo Nix guy, I will not be a Bo Nix guy for a while,” Jones said on “The Mina Kimes Show with Lenny” on Monday. “I think that what I have in common with the other not-Bo Nix guys is how much college football you watch … If you were not high on Bo Nix going into the draft and there wasn’t really that much in the season that should change your mind — it’s a lot of passes behind the line of scrimmage, a lot of use the scheme to make it easy for you. That catches up to you. No matter how good you think Sean Payton is, you can only scheme your way so far if that’s the scheme you’ve got to do to make it work with your quarterback.”

First of all, anyone who watched Nix play in college knew that he would be more ready than some other prospects solely off his experience at a high level of football with both Auburn and Oregon. He set the record for most starts in FBS history halfway through his final season, and led one of the nation’s two best offenses that same year. Just because he’s not a flashy guy who doesn’t dazzle the fans on every single snap doesn’t mean that he’s a bad quarterback.

According to Next Gen Stats, Nix was in the bottom-eight in the league last season in both average completed air yards, showing that the majority of his targets came close to or behind the line of scrimmage. However, Drew Brees ranked in the bottom-half of the league in the same category in 2020, the final year of his career in which he led the New Orleans Saints to a 12-4 record with Payton as the play caller. That was after all the Pro Bowls and Offensive Player of the Year Awards that he received, which shows that that’s just how the cookie crumbles in Payton’s system.

Nix is not Drew Brees by any means. However, he showed in his rookie year that he has the tools to become a talented quarterback in this league. If he can avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, he now has the weapons around him to lead the Broncos to an even deeper playoff run after last year’s defeat in Buffalo.

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