Sean Payton isn’t entertaining any quarterback drama in Denver.
With Bo Nix drawing heat for a rocky start, the Broncos coach went on national television and made his stance unmistakable: he believes Nix is the guy. That backing came during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports, where Payton pushed back on the idea that Denver should be looking elsewhere under center.
“I know we have the right quarterback in the building. I have just seen it in the behavior, the things that you need in clutch moments, the arm strength.
That was probably the biggest narrative relative to him was the arm strength. He has way above average arm talent.”
The support matters because the noise around Nix has been loud. He has thrown just three interceptions this year, but that hasn’t stopped the criticism from piling up. Ryan Fitzpatrick even had a temper tantrum on air after Denver beat the defending champion Seattle Seahawks in a game where Sam Darnold threw two crucial interceptions, and plenty of analysts have already decided the Broncos should move on.
Payton clearly isn’t buying it.
He acknowledged that Denver’s offense can do more to help Nix, and that the quarterback hasn’t been the only issue. But the bigger message was simple: the Broncos have won with him, and they trust him.
That track record is hard to ignore. Nix and Payton are 31-12 together, and the source material points to the pair as the reason the top-seeded 2025 Broncos were in position to win a Lamar Hunt trophy last year and beat the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Since the start of the 2025 season, the Broncos are 21-5, the best record in football over that stretch.
Nix has also done it with a rotating cast around him. Courtland Sutton has been the one steady presence, while Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin have filled useful roles. Even without a star-studded supporting cast, Nix has helped drive the Broncos’ success.
The criticism around his style of play has been just as persistent as the questions about his ceiling. He’s been labeled a checkdown merchant and a game manager, but that misses how Denver uses him. The Broncos want their playmakers in space, and a lot of that work happens behind the line of scrimmage.
Still, when Nix wants to push the ball, he can let it rip.
He showed that in 2024 with a 65-yard throw to Marvin Mims against the Bengals in Cincinnati, and he flashed it again in the Broncos’ win over the Carolina Panthers last week. On that fourth-quarter touchdown to Bryant, Nix fit the ball into a tight window between two defensive backs and fired a 30-yard strike into the end zone.
That’s the version of Nix Payton is standing behind. Not a quarterback in need of replacement, but one the Broncos believe can keep winning right now.
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