Bo Nix’s rise in Denver has been impossible to miss, even if not everyone is buying the hype.
The Broncos spent years spinning their wheels after Peyton Manning retired. Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Lock and Russell Wilson all got their shot to steady the franchise, and none of them managed to do it.
Then Denver used its first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, the sixth quarterback taken in the first 12 picks. The Broncos believed they had found the answer, and two seasons under Sean Payton have done plenty to back that up. Nix has gone 24-10 as a starter in the regular season and helped push Denver to the AFC Championship Game last year before a broken ankle knocked him out in the divisional round win over the Buffalo Bills.
Still, the skepticism hasn’t gone away.
After a win over the Green Bay Packers last season, Nix delivered a line that stuck. And now Garrett Podell of CBS Sports has added to the doubters by naming Nix one of the league’s most overrated quarterbacks.
Podell’s case leaned heavily on the numbers. He pointed out that Nix led the NFL with 612 passing attempts in 2025 but still didn’t reach 4,000 passing yards, citing his 6.4 yards per attempt, which ranked 28th among 33 qualified quarterbacks. Podell also noted that figure sat between Aaron Rodgers at 6.7 yards per attempt and Kirk Cousins at 6.4.
He also argued that Nix’s uneven play showed up in some of Denver’s tighter wins, including a 20-13 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs’ third-string quarterback, Chris Oladokun, on Christmas in Week 17, and a 19-3 home win over the Los Angeles Chargers’ backups. In Podell’s view, those struggles helped keep Denver from moving the ball consistently.
He also pointed to the Broncos’ 75 punts in the 2025 regular season, placing them among the top four teams in the league in that category alongside the Browns, Titans and Raiders, all of whom missed the playoffs and fired their head coaches. Podell closed by adding, “Add in the ankle injury, and it will be interesting to see what happens next in his career.”
There’s room to question the efficiency, sure. But it’s hard to separate Denver’s turnaround from Nix himself. The same defense and offensive line that are being used to minimize him were available to those other quarterbacks, and none of them came close to getting the Broncos where Nix has taken them.
The reality is that Nix and Payton have been the engine behind the franchise’s return to relevance. Calling him a passenger on the ride misses the point. He has been a prepared, steady leader since arriving from college, and the fit with one of the best coaches of this generation has clearly worked.
And if you want to take the optimistic view, there’s another layer here too: the addition of Jaylen Waddle to the offense could make Nix even better in 2026.
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