Bo Nix spent time working with one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks over the offseason

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix spend some time working with Drew Brees down in San Diego in the offseason in an effort to learn more from one of the game's greatest quarterbacks

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Jul 23, 2025, 12:29 PM Updated: 12:31 pm

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Bo Nix’s development is one of the biggest factors in the Broncos’ success for the 2025 season. He had a solid rookie campaign as he helped lead the Broncos to the franchise’s first playoff berth in nine years, but now needs to keep growing and improving if the Broncos want to win playoff games going forward.

In 2024, Nix threw for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns while completing over 66% of his passes. However, he was one of 11 quarterbacks who threw at least 12 interceptions last year, so he does have work to do on taking care of the football.

Remember, he’s only entering his second year. No one is expecting Nix to be 2013 Peyton Manning. The important thing for him is to avoid going through the sophomore slump that C.J. Stroud and Mac Jones both suffered from this decade after having fantastic rookie campaigns. Broncos head coach Sean Payton said that those slumps aren’t something that crosses his mind that often, so he’s clearly not worried about Nix potentially regressing in year two.

“No, I think it’s a term we use, but I can’t think of examples that match that term of rookie quarterbacks that excelled and then all of a sudden what happened their second year,” Payton said after Broncos training camp on Wednesday.

Sean Payton is not exactly a believer in sophomore slumps for quarterbacks 👀

His thoughts 👇#BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/lbsiRaG9x1

— Denver Sports 104.3 (@DenSports1043) July 23, 2025

In an effort to improve on his performance from last year, Nix spent a handful of days this offseason working with one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Drew Brees. Brees had a down year in his second full season as a starter in San Diego with the Chargers, but his career took off when he signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2006 and had Payton call plays for him. His 80,358 career passing yards and 571 passing touchdowns are both the second-best marks in NFL history, so he’s not a bad guy to get some pointers from.

The Super Bowl XLIV MVP welcomed Nix down in San Diego for four or five days over the summer, according to Payton.

“[Nix] is someone that works his tail off, wants to improve. The whole offseason is planned out, he’s gone and visited Brees for four or five days and had Tom House in here. There’s a lot that he wants to absorb in a fast period of time and that’s a great thing for a young player like that. We’re never just going to pick up from where we left off, but there’s a lot of building to do when we look at last year and a lot of positive things to look at,” Payton said.

Nix made a huge leap in his second season at Oregon in 2023, but had a bit of a regression in his second year at Auburn in 2020. However, that year was filled with complications from the pandemic, so it’s difficult to take those circumstances into account when looking at his growth.

Payton also told the press that Brees is down in San Diego where he began his career, not in New Orleans.

“No, no, no, Drew lives in San Diego and [Nix] spent some time going there. Just, with the schedule and wanting to know more about the offense — I don’t even know when he went, I just know he went. It was him doing more research at the position,” Payton said.

For Broncos fans who are looking for a big season from the 25-year-old quarterback, this is a great sign. Payton was Brees’ coach and play caller for 14 of his 15 years down in New Orleans, so he’s more familiar with how Payton operates than most other people. Everyone within the Broncos has seen Nix’s confidence and leadership grow throughout the offseason, and now it’s time for him to put all the work he did in the offseason into action and grow as a quarterback on the field.