Bo Nix is checking defensive structures, checking plays at the line of scrimmage, and checking boxes.
The Broncos rookie quarterback is tracking toward winning the starting job for Sean Payton, but it doesn’t take long to realize that he is adamant about not skipping steps.
In fact, the 24-year-old seems to enjoy taking each one.
The latest: An efficient and competitive joint practice Friday against Green Bay that featured a lot to like, even without a plethora of big plays.
“It was definitely different playing against a different team out here at practice,” Nix said of the two-plus hours against Green Bay. “But I liked it, and everything ran very smoothly. Getting in and out of the huddle and playing good and playing sharp football. Both sides, I thought it was very clean and a good day of practice.”
Nix took the first reps in every practice period among Denver’s three quarterbacks, followed by Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson — the same order head coach Sean Payton said they’d play Sunday night against the Packers at Empower Field.
These are important reps for everybody, but particularly for Nix, who is still seeing each thing for the first time in the NFL.
“(Joint practices) are a great opportunity to go against an unfamiliar opponent with regards to, you’re not seeing the same stuff you see every day in practice,” said Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur, who broke in a new full-time starting quarterback a year ago in Jordan Love. “Any time you get these opportunities, these are as valuable as the preseason games.”
Part of Nix’s approach, though, is to rely on what he’s seen and been through at lower levels and then apply them in the present. He’s convinced himself that just because he hadn’t been in a live NFL two-minute drill before the second quarter Sunday at Indianapolis or gone against a defense teeming with first-round picks like Friday against Green Bay, doesn’t mean it’s new to him.
“You have to learn with experience and learn, I guess, how to become poised,” Nix said. “I’ve been through a lot of different moments to where most everything I went through on Sunday I’ve been through before.
“So a lot of experiences stacked on top of each other and that’s what kind of creates that calm.”
One example of it on display Friday: Nix opened up and faked a pitch to his left. The pace and action in the fake sucked up the Green Bay defense and coaxed $100 million pass-rusher Rashan Gary too far down the line of scrimmage.
Nix booted to his right, knew he had Gary cleared, and waited for receiver Tim Patrick to come free on a crossing route for a sizable gain.
Same old stuff, according to Packers safety Evan Williams, who spent the past two years as teammates with Nix at Oregon.
“Just his decision-making. He’s really fluid,” Williams, a fourth-round pick in April, said. “His read progressions, going from read to read, he seems really smooth. Looked really comfortable in that offense. When he’s throwing that ball, he’s not hesitant. He’s lasering it in there. I think he’s doing a great job with his decision-making and his processing.
“Knowing him, he’s going to just keep improving on that.”
What’s become perhaps a more open question than who starts Week 1 at Seattle is who joins Nix in the quarterback room after the Aug. 27 roster cutdown. Stidham has been steady through camp, but Wilson has settled in and played well over the past two weeks.
The reps still paint Wilson as third in line — he got two team periods compared to four each for Nix and Stidham on Friday and is playing “Phase 3” against Green Bay on Sunday, according to Payton — but the natural talent that led to him getting picked No. 2 overall by the New York Jets in 2021 shows through a little more each day.
“With each day of camp I’m getting more and more consistent, and I think that comes with just feeling more and more confident with myself and my abilities,” he said Friday. “I think I know what I can be and I’m just going to keep working to get there.”
There is still time for the landscape to change, but a week from now Payton may well have named a starter, and the Broncos will be wrapping up final preparations for their preseason finale against Arizona.
Through the opening weeks of camp, Nix and Wilson looked like they were trying to close the knowledge gap and consistency gap on Stidham. Over the past week or two, both have done that, and all three have been solid, if not spectacular. That was the case in Indianapolis and again Friday against Green Bay.
“Yeah, you get a lot. You get different coverage looks. The techniques are different,” said Payton, who didn’t want to give an off-the-cuff evaluation of the day but seemed encouraged with the work overall. “Personnel-wise, you have to know what their strengths are. There’s a lot that goes into it that’s really helpful.”
Now each will get another run at the Packers on Sunday night at Empower Field.
If there’s considerable daylight between any of the trio, it is more about how much more comfortable Nix and Wilson look compared to the start of camp than it is about one guy outplaying the others. What it means for Denver’s prospects this fall and beyond remains to be seen. What it means for the coming days is that Payton has more than one decision to make regarding his trio of signal-callers, and each has done a solid job of stating his case.
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Originally Published: August 16, 2024 at 6:22 p.m.
