DENVER — Rookie Bo Nix will begin the season as the Denver Broncos’ starting quarterback, head coach Sean Payton announced on Wednesday.
Nix will become the first rookie quarterback to open a season as the starter since John Elway in 1983.
The Broncos drafted Nix, a 24-year-old with five years of college experience, with the 12th overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. He impressed in his first two preseason outings, completing 15 of 21 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown in his debut against Indianapolis and going 8-of-9 for 80 yards and a touchdown in the Broncos’ second contest against Green Bay.
He’s added six carries for 29 yards and hasn’t taken any sacks over those two games.
Nix beat out veteran Jarrett Stidham, who started the final two games for Denver in 2023, and one-time No. 2 pick Zach Wilson, who the team acquired in the offseason, for the starting job.
“It’s not really a reflection on Jarrett or even Zach, it’s about some of the things [Nix] has been able to do pretty quickly,” Payton said. “His arm strength down the field, all the things when we evaluated him – you kind of trust your instincts.”
Payton said he informed Nix of the decision before Wednesday’s practice – “but we didn’t do cake and candles,” he quipped.
The Broncos had identified Nix as their target ahead of the draft. Payton made headlines afterward claiming he baited the Minnesota Vikings – thought to be another potential Nix suiter – into trading up instead for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy so the Broncos could get their guy.
The impression from early evaluations and spring practice has rung true, Payton said Wednesday.
"You get early impressions in the spring, and then they're confirmed with the pads on," he said, adding that the team is "at the beginning of the process" of developing Nix and the rest of the roster.
"We're still trying to get the consistency we want in the run game, and we've got another weekend relative to a preseason game and practices to work on that," he said. "Same way defensively, I think we've played the run pretty well, but it's a work in progress."
The second-year head coach made no other roster announcements, saying he wouldn’t comment on the competition at other positions. The Broncos will whittle their roster to 53 players in time for the regular season, which kicks off for them on Sept. 8 in Seattle.
This story will be updated.
