Cowherd explains viral Bo Nix rant, says ‘coaches fall out of love overnight’ with players

Colin Cowherd, one of the most popular sports radio hosts in the country, went off on Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix on Tuesday.

After Nix and the entire offense struggled in an ugly 31-10 beatdown by the Kansas City Chiefs, Cowherd declared himself “out” on Nix moving forward.

This triggered all kinds of social media chatter, with many accusing Cowherd of having a steaming hot (and misguided) take after only one game.

What makes it curious is that Cowherd and Broncos head coach Sean Payton are good friends. The two worked together at FOX Sports before Payton took the Denver job and have a history.

On Wednesday, Cowherd explained why he made the bold statements after a tough outing from Nix.

"Coaches fall out of love OVERNIGHT with players. Jerry said: "Micah is one of one! A unicorn… Hello, Packers? We've got a deal."@colincowherd explains why he thinks the Broncos might be having second thoughts on Bo Nix pic.twitter.com/ziqtRfD7lv

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) September 16, 2026

“Apparently, the Bo Nix thing everybody freaked out, because ‘ah, Colin, you love Bo Nix.’ And now suddenly you’re saying you don’t like Bo Nix. Folks, I never want to sound like the audience. I want to sound on this show like what the coaches are saying in their meetings,” Cowherd said.

That will raise some eyebrows, because Cowherd thinks he’s sounding like what Payton might behind closed doors. There’s no evidence to back that up, only the friendship between Cowherd and Payton that’s public knowledge.

Cowherd goes on to say that Payton “talked himself into” Nix because the Broncos faced a precarious situation after the Russell Wilson debacle. They didn’t have salary cap space or draft picks to trade up and land Drake Maye, for example.

He cites other instances around the NFL, including the Cowboys loving Micah Parsons in Dallas and then trading him to Green Bay. Same with Baker Mayfield and the Browns and Tyreek Hill with the Chiefs.

“Coaches fall out of love overnight with players,” Cowherd said.

He also attempted to explain why there was so much passion after a singular rough evening for Nix against the Chiefs.

“We all know that Bo Nix has had moments and stretches, we’ve seen it. But you are hoping in the beginning of year three for a guy that’s had 61 college starts… you would think alright game one, all offseason, another year with Sean Payton he would pop. And he was awful,” Cowherd said.

He then went on to mention the relationship in Los Angeles between Sean McVay and Jared Goff falling apart, eventually leading to Goff heading to Detroit and Matthew Stafford landing with the Rams.

Is this just a radio host spewing nonsense? Perhaps.

But there also could be more to it with the Cowherd and Payton relationship. And the Broncos have to make a huge decision next offseason on whether or not to give Bo Nix a massive contract extension.

There’s a lot of football left to be played this year, but Cowherd floating something like this is worth monitoring the next 6-8 months.

Especially if Payton and the Broncos are having second thoughts about whether or not Nix is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the future.

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