Progress of Bo Nix is ‘gradual but also drastic at the same time’

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The name of Bo Nix rested firmly on the tips of almost every bloviating tongue in the national sports-media complex’s punditry class this week. Some came with flowers in praise of Nix after a single-game performance unlike that of any other rookie in NFL history; others offered dismissive shrugs that the work against the Atlanta Falcons was an outlier and not reflective of any progress.

Those in the latter group would be incorrect. Because while Nix’s explosive performance might offer the illusion that he launched like a missile into the NFL stratosphere just last Sunday, his work over the last several weeks — especially in terms of pre-snap diagnosis and post-snap adjustments — reveals a gradual accumulation of steps leading up to a leap that manifests in the type of dynamic downfield throws he wasn’t making in September.

“I think with every rep, he gets better. His improvement has … been gradual but also drastic at the same time, which is kind of a weird thing,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “Like, you’ve seen him just take huge leaps and bounds in these last six, seven games of what he’s been capable of doing for our offense, and not only just from a protection standpoint, but where he needs to go with the football, where the wrist needs to go, where he needs to make a play with his feet.”
There’s room for more progress for Bo Nix, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi explained.

“We’ve been around for 10, 15 years and he’s been around just for a few months and there’s still a couple completions every game that I think as he gets more experience, he’s going to find that maybe he’s not finding now,” Lombardi said.

“And I think every week he’s finding a couple more of those. And so, I just think it’s just going to continue.”

Nix’s growth is particularly notable against the blitz. He posted a 70.2 passer rating when blitzed in Weeks 1-7, but has notched a 142.4 rating in the last four weeks when blitzed.

Some of that is due to the extensive practice work the Broncos have in those scenarios.

“Every day we have a blitz-pickup period,” tight end Lucas Krull said. “Always working on that stuff. So I think it’s a repetition of seeing
it over and over on the practice field.”

The focus on excelling against the blitz is team-wide and doesn’t land solely on the shoulders of the rookie quarterback.

“We spend a lot of time on the third-down looks, and we spend a lot of time game-planning those things together. And I think we have a great protection plan each week,” McGlinchey said. “I think [offensive-line coaches Zach] Strief and [Austin] King do a great job with how we handle those pressures and Bo understanding where he needs to look to be hot, or where his problems are with the protection scheme.

“We have a lot of smart people working all the time to figure out those kinds of things, and we’ve been doing a good job with that, and we gotta keep going.”

Progress won’t always be on a perfect incline for Bo Nix. Bumps will come. But with what he’s accumulated in recent weeks, the No. 12 overall pick is building a body of work that offers assurance that the lousy days will be outliers, and the longer-range tends will be favorable.

“Bo’s been unbelievable for the last couple of weeks now,” McGlinchey said, “and I don’t anticipate him doing anything except for getting better.”

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