Maybe Sean Payton’s got a soft side after all.

Bo Nix went into his NFL combine interview with the Broncos expecting the Denver head coach to show him some of his worst collegiate moments.

Other quarterbacks in Indianapolis got that treatment from Payton. Nix figured it was coming, too. Maybe one of the few sacks he took in two years at Oregon. Maybe a bad pick he threw in the third quarter of the Pac-12 title game against Washington —one of just three on the season.

Instead, Nix got a curveball.

“You know, it was actually good stuff,” Nix told The Denver Post shortly after Payton and the Broncos picked him No. 12 overall, a hint of surprise in his voice and a small smile on his face. “I honestly thought, just from him being him, that there would be some negatives that we could clean up.”

Then he hit the nail on the head.

“But those will come.”

They certainly will and the time has arrived.

Nix and the Broncos rookies are already back in town, having reported for training camp in recent days. The veterans board the aircraft carrier, as Payton likes to say, Tuesday and then Denver is steaming full-tilt toward a Sept. 8 regular-season opener at Seattle.

Between now and then, Nix will compete with Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson for the starting quarterback job.

Payton may start training camp with the relatively even split of repetitions that he stuck to through most of the summer. He is adamant that getting the choice right is more important than making it quickly.

The sooner the better, though, since whoever wins the job will need all the reps he can get. All the chances to clean up negatives. Maximal chances to build on positives.

“When we get into training camp and when we get into the preseason games, I think oftentimes the decisions take care of themselves,” Payton said earlier this summer.

Nix is the first-round pick. He started 61 games in college. Broncos coaches raved about him this summer. He should be able to put himself in the driver’s seat, but he still has to win the job over the coming weeks.

Ahead of camp’s outset, here’s the roadmap for Nix to make Payton’s decision on who starts Week 1 a clear one.

Don’t just pick up where you left off

Payton during rookie minicamp told the newcomers that they all found themselves, through no fault of their own, in a game of catch-up. The rest of the roster had been in town working out and going through meetings for several weeks by mid-May. Some have been in Denver for years, in familiar systems for years, or both.

The challenge for any young player, but particularly for a rookie quarterback like Nix, is to show up at the start of training camp further along than when you left minicamp in mid-June.

For Nix, that means building on a good start.

“The good thing is there haven’t been a lot of surprises,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said in June. “What we thought we saw — what we hoped we would see — I think has shown itself this spring. So maybe a little bit more of a dry sense of humor as you get to know the guy better, but as far as a player, I think what we saw and what we hoped we were getting, so far he’s been as advertised.”

But that also has to include consistent progress.

Nix and Stidham took a step in that direction earlier in July when Stidham got a bunch of the team’s skill position players together in the Dallas area for a few days to work out, throw and spend quality time together.

By Wednesday the team will be out on the field. The first preseason game is three weeks away. The game of catch-up continues.

Push the ball down the field

Nix is a polished public speaker, but he’s not afraid to show a little bit of bite now and then. He did it at the Senior Bowl regarding his comfort level playing under center since he operated almost exclusively out of shotgun formations at Oregon.

He showed it again after being drafted by Denver when he fielded a question about the number of horizontal passes he completed in college.

“Quite frankly, I completed a lot of long ones, too,” he said at the start of an explanation of why he thinks he’s shown he can make every throw required of him.

The ability to stretch the field vertically will be a key part of training camp.

During summer work, none of Denver’s quarterbacks consistently hit big plays down the field. There are caveats, most notably that OTAs and minicamp are mostly about installation, building familiarity with schemes and working through between-snap operations.

Not only that, but it takes more than the quarterback to generate explosive plays.

Still, quarterback coach Davis Webb made it a point before the team broke for the summer to say that the inexperienced quarterback group will have to cut it loose at some point.

“We don’t want to be checkdown Charlies,” Webb said. “We want to be aggressive down the field and if it’s not there, we want to keep moving forward. So I don’t think we have that tendency (to check down too often). I think it’s just being smart with the football. To the naked eye it might look that way, but if you look at what’s going on with protection or down the field, getting a completion sometimes is the only thing you have.”

Now begins proving time. Was the summer just about learning? Can one quarterback in the group show he has the ability to play aggressive and still protect the ball?

Continue the Sean Payton mind-meld

Payton clearly is impressed with the rookie.

He liked Nix’s approach to not just their combine interview but to an intense private workout and playbook test the Broncos gave him a couple of weeks later.

They each seem to think that they’re wired the same way when it comes to football.

“You can’t prove or show anything. You’ve just got to let it happen naturally,” Nix said. “We’re both — we love the game, we love football. We’ve essentially put our lives into it. He’ll see it eventually. He’ll see my love for the game, he’ll see everything he wants.

“I’ll learn a lot and grow a lot just from being with him. I think that’s what’s most exciting is the opportunity that I have with him.”

People tend to rush to compare Nix to Drew Brees even though one hasn’t played in the NFL yet and the other is a surefire Hall of Famer. Years still separate any ability to judge whether Nix can develop the same accuracy, processing and leadership ability that elevated Brees to rarified air. There is also a long road to travel before Nix and Payton develop the same coach/quarterback mind-meld that engendered awe from those who saw it up close in New Orleans.

But if Nix and Payton do find themselves on the same football wavelengths more often than not, that’s a start at least.

Show the wheels

Pretty simple here. Nix is a really good athlete.

He showed it early in his career at Auburn and at times perhaps relied on it too much.

He rushed for 14 touchdowns his first year at Oregon before cutting back the attempts to a career-low 54 last fall.

That’s an element of his game that we won’t fully get a feel for until pads are on. The quarterbacks won’t get hit as much, but Nix will have a chance to operate in the pocket, hone when to get out and show he can play efficiently on and off schedule.

When Payton’s offense is running smoothly, the ball comes out fast. The coach is convinced that’s how Nix will play overall. The key, then, is for Nix to use his legs as a bonus rather than as an early escape hatch. Not easy for a rookie to nail down quickly, but the first looks will certainly be interesting.

Earn the locker room’s trust

When Payton said that often “decisions take care of themselves,” he noted that the locker room plays a role in that.

The locker room doesn’t decide who wins the quarterback job, but the other players on the roster certainly get a feel over the course of camp who they think can win games in the fall.

The returning group knows Stidham from last year. They’ve started getting to know Nix and Wilson over the past couple of months.

Nix showed up at Auburn and won the job as a freshman. When he transferred to Oregon, he found a way to step into a leadership role almost immediately.

His approach this time?

“You’re not going to be able to do it all at once,” he said. “It’s going to go day-by-day. The most important thing is being a great teammate and learning my new teammates. Being around them and forming great relationships with them.

“They just want to see guys who can go out there and play hard for each other. That’s what most leaders are able to do.”

If Nix does that and more, he’ll put himself in a position to show his play style sooner rather than later.

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Originally Published: July 21, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.