Bo Nix helped push the Denver Broncos to a 14-3 season, an AFC West title and a first-round playoff bye in 2025, but one glaring issue stood out in the numbers: pressure changed his game dramatically.
Denver believed it had found a difference-maker when it selected the Oregon quarterback 12th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Nix delivered a major step forward in his second season. The Broncos were in the Super Bowl conversation deep into the year, but their run ended in a 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game after Nix was sidelined.
He broke his ankle in the closing moments of the divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills, forcing Jarrett Stidham into the lineup against New England. Stidham had not completed a pass in two years and struggled in the spot start, going 17 of 31 for 133 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
With Nix unavailable, Denver’s offense never found the same rhythm. And while the Broncos were still productive across the season, his individual workload was massive after J.K.
Dobbins went down with a season-ending injury in Week 10. From there, Nix was asked to carry far more of the passing game, finishing with a league-high 612 attempts and 388 completions, tied with Matthew Stafford for third-most in the NFL.
He completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 3,931 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. That production helped him finish with the 15th-best QB rating at 58.3 and a 28th-best passer rating of 87.8.
The clean-pocket numbers were strong. According to Pro Football Focus, Nix posted an 89.3 clean-pocket passing grade, good for seventh among qualified quarterbacks, and his 28 big-time throws trailed only Stafford. PFF’s Mark Chichester also noted, “Nix paired that aggressiveness with strong ball security, posting a 5.8% big-time throw rate that ranked sixth at the position and a 1.9% turnover-worthy play rate that tied Josh Allen for 11th.”
The problem came once defenders got into the backfield. PFF said Nix’s 44.3 passing grade under pressure ranked 27th among qualified quarterbacks, one of the steepest drops in the league from clean pocket to pressure. His big-time throw rate fell to 3.3%, his turnover-worthy play rate more than doubled and his yards per attempt dipped from 7.2 to 4.5.
That kind of split is hard to ignore, especially for a quarterback entering his third season. Only Geno Smith and Joe Flacco had worse drops in passer grade under pressure. If Nix can make real progress in those moments, Denver’s outlook stays bright.
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There were reasons Denver stayed relatively quiet, including a desire to protect future compensatory draft value, but that approach also left the team leaning on young options who need time to develop. Justin Joly and Dallen Bentley were brought in as late-round rookies, yet neither is ready to solve the kind of blocking issues that can shape what the Broncos can and cannot do on offense. For a team that wants to be sturdier and more reliable, tight end remains one of the few places where the offseason still feels unfinished. [Read more 🡒]