Grading Bo Nix through 9 games as Broncos enter their bye week

There may not be a more polarizing quarterback in the NFL right now than Bo Nix. At least to some degree, it feels like the general perception of Nix is that he's a bad quarterback. Let's just call it what it is.

But many Broncos fans are like Aragorn at the Black Gate in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, ready to take on the entire army of Mordor for their quarterback. Part of the defense of Nix comes from a place of fandom, but part of it also comes from seeing this guy lead 16 game-winning drives in his career.

That much winning doesn't just fall into someone's lap. Nix has the "it" factor.

So how does he actually grade heading into the team's Week 10 bye week? We're going to break down Nix's play so far this season into 5 important categories: Clutch factor, consistency & execution, accuracy & ball placement, pocket presence & playmaking, as well as decision-making & ball security.

Grading Broncos QB Bo Nix on 5 important categories heading into the bye week

1. Consistency & Offensive Execution

If there's one thing everyone can agree on regarding Bo Nix, it's that his consistency needs improvement. Nix has trouble finding rhythm in games, and has even spoken out loud on multiple occasions about the fact that he wishes he knew why he played one way in the 4th quarter of games and not at the same level all throughout games.

Part of the reason Nix is such a polarizing player is this issue right here. What everyone sees from him in the 4th quarter of games raises the question of, why can't he do it sooner?

As far as executing the offense goes, Nix is not the only one at fault for this, but the Broncos have been one of the worst teams in the NFL this season when it comes to 3-and-outs, 3rd-down conversions, and just generally possessing the football.

This may be his worst and harshest grade of any category through the first 9 games, but we saw steady improvements over the last 3 leading up to the bye.

Grade: D

Accuracy & Ball Placement

So far this season, Nix is completing just 60.6 percent of his passes, which is down from his previous two seasons in the NFL. His completion rate is down nearly 6 percent from his rookie year, and his yards per attempt have also dropped rather significantly from 6.7 as a rookie to 6.0 as a 3rd-year player.

Grading Nix on a curve, he should be making strides in this area in his third NFL season, not regressing. Part of the issue in this category is also dropped passes, which have affected Nix more than a lot of quarterbacks around the league over the past handful of years.

With that being said, Nix still leaves plenty of meat on the bone himself with some of his ball placement. This is another category with room for improvement.

Grade: C

Decision making & ball security

Until he threw an interception against the Carolina Panthers, Nix had gone 180 pass attempts without an interception.

There might have been some lucky breaks within that streak, but one of Nix's strengths is not really putting the ball in harm's way. His ball security has been a bit of a question mark at times this season, however.

Even though Nix doesn't throw a lot of interceptions (career interception percentage of 1.8 percent), he has fumbled the football more this year (8) than his first two NFL seasons combined (7).

There have been some head-scratching moments of ball security this season for Nix, but he generally is a good game manager overall. Especially in big moments. When the game is on the line, Nix simply doesn't make mistakes.

There was a point this season when it felt like Nix was being conservative to a fault. Again, that has improved dramatically over the last three games. But on the whole this season, Nix's decision making and ball security have just been above average.

Grade: C+

Pocket presence & playmaking

This is an area of Nix's game that drew Sean Payton to him in the first place.

Nix is one of the best quarterbacks in the league at avoiding sacks, and he's one of the best playmakers at the quarterback position in the NFL as well.

That doesn't mean Nix is the best in the NFL at stepping up in the pocket and making throws under pressure, but he has a good feel for pressure, the internal clock, and when to get rid of the ball.

Nix has a career sack rate under 4 percent (3.74), and is one of the best in the league at making his offensive line look really good in pass protection. That can be a double-edged sword at times with Nix not always attacking downfield, but again -- that has improved drastically over the last three weeks.

Earlier this season, everyone was wondering if there was something wrong with Nix's ankle, because he wasn't running nearly as much as we'd gotten used to. He quieted those concerns with an incredible touchdown run against the Arizona Cardinals.

This particular run was such a huge moment for Nix's season overall. He hadn't shown that kind of willingness to tuck the ball and run up until that point. And in one fell swoop, it felt like that run gave him his confidence and swagger back.

Grade: B+

Clutch factor

We all know this is Bo Nix's biggest strength. With the game on the line, is there anyone in the NFL better than him?

This statistic tells us everything we need to know about Nix's clutch factor:

The 4th quarter belongs to Bo Nix. You almost don't even want your team to have a lead against him going into the 4th at this point.

At this stage, some Broncos fans don't love the fact that it feels like they are trading week-to-week consistency at the quarterback position for a guy who steps up in the big moments. But would you rather have a quarterback posting big numbers and showing up on the top right of the advanced analytics graphs, or would you rather have a quarterback who knows how to finish games?

Some might argue that over the long haul, it's better to have the guy on the top right of the graphs, and that's fair.

While the consistency may not (yet) be there, Nix has still proven he can hang with and beat the best of the best in the NFL. His fingerprints are all over the Broncos' winning as of late.

Bo Nix's overall grade heading into the bye week

Everything counting equally up to this point, I'm giving Bo Nix an overall grade of a B- heading into the bye week (81/100).

He was on pace for a C- prior to the last three games, and that may have been generous. Still, you have to look at the defenses the Broncos have faced, and also factor in that Nix was dealing with the mental hurdle of getting past the injury he suffered in last year's playoffs.

Some might think of the team's strength of schedule, Nix's injury/recovery, dropped passes, and offensive coordinator change as excuses. The reality is that those are real reasons for a player struggling and regressing when everyone is expecting linear progress.

A grade of B- is being carried heavily by Nix's clutch performances, but all of the other categories have gotten better in the most recent sample we have. In terms of execution and aggressiveness, Nix is looking a lot more like the player we saw late last season when he was red-hot.

There is still room for improvement, and plenty of it. And that's an exciting possibility.

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