Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was very likely playing in the Super Bowl during the 2025 NFL Season had he not broken his ankle, and I think a lot of people just don't seem to acknowledge that. With how close the AFC Championship Game was without Nix and with Jarrett Stidham, the Broncos having their starting quarterback would have surely given them enough to win.
And even if the Broncos did make it to the Super Bowl and lost, for example, it still would have been an outstanding year overall, especially for the young quarterback. Through two seasons, Nix has quarterbacked the Broncos to a 24-10 regular season record and two-straight playoff appearances.
While he isn't a top-5 quarterback (not yet, perhaps), he's every bit of a franchise passer, but the disrespect just keeps coming ahead of what could be his best season yet.
Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix labeled as one of the NFL's most overrated passers
For CBS Sports, Garrett Podell named Nix one of his most overrated quarterbacks entering the 2026 season:
"Bo Nix is an incredibly unique quarterback. He led the NFL with 612 passing attempts in 2025, but he failed to crack 4,000 yards passing, thanks to an average of 6.4 yards per attempt that ranked 28th among 33 qualified quarterbacks. That average was sandwiched in between washed versions of Aaron Rodgers (6.7 yards per pass attempt) and Kirk Cousins (also 6.4 yards per pass attempt).
Nix's inconsistencies helped produce sluggish victories against the Kansas City Chiefs' third-string quarterback, Chris Oladokun, on Christmas in Week 17 (20-13), and a 19-3 home win over the Los Angeles Chargers' backups. The young quarterback's lumps directly led to Denver struggling to consistently drive the football down the field. Three of the top four teams with the most punts in the 2025 regular season -- the Browns (93), Titans (78) and Raiders (74) -- missed the playoffs and fired their respective head coaches. The fourth team in that group is Nix's Broncos, with 75 punts. He benefits from a strong offensive line and a strong defense.
Add in the ankle injury, and it will be interesting to see what happens next in his career."
What I find interesting is that the main piece of criticism that Nix has gotten this offseason is the 'he led the league in passing attempts but didn't have 4,000 yards.' While that is true on the surface, I believe more context is needed.
First of all, the Broncos were second in the NFL in 2025 with 43 drops, according to Pro Football Reference, only trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Broncos and Jags had 10+ more drops as a team than the rest of the NFL and even Trevor Lawrence himself just barely cracked the 4,000-yard mark.
It's certainly hard to pass for 4,000 yards when you, as a quarterback, are dealing with an average of 2.53 drops per game.
Secondly, the Broncos rushing attack cratered when J.K. Dobbins went down. Denver obviously tried to cover this up with shorter passes closer to the line of scrimmage as an extension of the run game. In the 10 games that Dobbins was healthy, the Broncos averaged 128.6 yards per game.
In the seven games that Dobbins missed, the Broncos averaged just 104.6 yards per game, which would have ranked as the 8th-worst mark in the league had that been over a full 17-game season.
While Nix isn't a perfect quarterback, the primary argument to bash him is a flawed one, at best. It is interesting that the critics don't want to mention that Nix led the league with seven game-winning drives and also had five fourth-quarter comebacks.
Sure, Denver was trailing a lot, but had Nix not been able to lead the team to victory, the critics would have been even louder. What is clear is that the Broncos third-year quarterback has proven a ton of people wrong, and the doubters are running out of things to latch onto.
Honestly, Nix is probably fairly-rated when you compare him to the rest of the quarterbacks in the NFL. Depending on you who ask, Nix could fall between that 10-18 ranking among all 32 starters.
There has been a ton of good, but also some forgettable moments, but calling him an overrated quarterback with a shaky, at best, argument, falls flat in my opinion.
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