Broncos QB Bo Nix ran frequently as a rookie. How will that evolve in Year 2?
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With options dwindling, the quarterback ran. He opened his stride, beat a defender to the edge, juked another and then slid down to finish an 18-yard gain that kept a scoring drive alive.
It was a familiar sight for Broncos fans — only not from Jarrett Stidham.
'He made some plays with his feet,' a smirking Bo Nix said of his backup after Saturday's preseason game in Santa Clara, Calif., 'which isn't common for him.'
Nix routinely made improvisational plays last season that ended with him turning upfield and making big plays with his legs. His 92 rush attempts were the most by a Broncos quarterback since Tim Tebow rushed 122 times in 2011.
Much of the running Tebow did that season, though, was built into the game plan. Only 26 percent of his runs were classified as scrambles, according to TruMedia.
However, scrambles accounted for 54 percent of Nix's rush attempts during his rookie season, and those plays added a dynamic element to Denver's offense. The Broncos had an EPA (expected points added) of 1.17 points per game on Nix's scrambles, a figure that ranked seventh among full-time starting quarterbacks in the NFL last season.
Nix's 41 rushing first downs last season were fifth-most in the league among players at the position, behind only Jalen Hurts (62), Jayden Daniels (55), Josh Allen (51) and Lamar Jackson (47).
Bo Nix
Broncos
Broncos coach Sean Payton has said that Nix's speed in the open field was a trait the team didn't fully grasp in its pre-draft evaluation of the quarterback because Nix chose not to run at the combine. Asked near the start of training camp whether he believed Nix would have been harder for the Broncos to obtain with the No. 12 pick in the 2024 draft if the quarterback opted into sprints and agility drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, Payton said he wasn't sure, but added: 'I'm glad he didn't.'
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As Nix enters his second season as Denver's starting quarterback, piloting a team that has been outspoken about its championship aspirations, the Broncos have no plans to meddle with his running instincts. However, they are emphasizing an important caveat.
'The audit would be more in regard to protecting himself at the end of those plays and the timing of when (the run) is a got-to-have-it versus (not),' Payton said. 'So we're comfortable with (Nix scrambling); it's a strength. When the combine came, he didn't shuttle. He didn't do a number of these drills that I thought he would be exceptional at.
'Later, he told me he had a turf toe, and it made sense. But when you watched him, you thought, 'This guy is tough to sack.' '
Nix started every game for the Broncos last season, including the playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, making him the first Denver quarterback to do so since Case Keenum in 2018. He also dealt with a back injury that occurred when he suffered three transverse process fractures — bony projections on the end of the vertebrae — after taking a hit and getting 'twisted up' at the end of a play against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12.
Nix didn't miss a meaningful snap, but the 'annoying' injury, as he called it, was a reminder of the risk each play brings. The Broncos can't minimize all of it, but the messaging has been clear: Make sure each run has an escape hatch.
'He won a lot of downs for us last year with his feet,' Payton said. 'It's just being smart at the tail end.'
There may be a natural decline in Nix's scramble attempts due to his increased familiarity with the offense and a better understanding from his receivers about how their quarterback prefers to make plays when he leaves the pocket. Nix had 26 scrambles in the first seven games of his rookie season. He had only 24 across his final 10 as he finished more of his pocket-escaping plays with throws to receivers who did a better job mirroring his scrambles.
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That escape-to-throw trend has continued in his second training camp. An example came during last week's joint practice with the 49ers. Nix was flushed to his right by pressure on third-and-long and moved toward the sideline. At the last minute, he flung a cross-body throw from a lowered arm slot to nail Devaughn Vele for a first down.
'He's got to be the best thrower on the run in the NFL,' said Broncos wide receiver Trent Sherfield, who has benefitted from Nix's mobility on several big pass plays during camp. 'His accuracy when he runs and throws the ball, the way he processes information and communicates with us as receivers, you would never think this guy is in his second year.'
Nix puts tireless work into preparing his body to run.
In a video titled 'The In Between,' documenting some behind-the-scenes elements of Nix's offseason training that was recently posted to his YouTube page, the quarterback said his father and high school coach, Patrick Nix, made him join the track team during the offseason to enhance his speed. Nix still incorporates track workouts into his regimen. He routinely fills breaks in between practices with more sprints.
'When he gets out of the pocket, man, he can run,' said new Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who was running alongside Nix early in training camp as he ramped his way back up from an offseason quad injury. 'The other day, we were running and trying to hit 90 percent of our speed. The dude was behind me, and I'm not a slow person, so I started running.
'All of a sudden, I heard shoo, shoo, shoo, and he's coming up behind me and just goes, zoom! He can run now. That's going to be everything you need in a quarterback. When things get hectic, when things break down, a guy who can make plays and extend plays with his legs and has the arm to make any play on the field.'
The Broncos fully trust Nix to make the right decision at the end of those off-script plays, the kind that make up a sizable chunk of any team's offensive diet. But with a reloaded backfield and new targets for Nix to find in the passing game, Payton also won't be heartbroken if his quarterback doesn't lead the team in rushing in 33 percent of the team's games, including the playoffs, like he did as a rookie.
If preseason is any sign of future use, Saturday was the first time in a combined 21 preseason, regular-season and playoff games that Nix did not have a rush attempt.
For his part, Nix wants to keep expanding his menu of ways to damage defenses when a play reaches its second act.
'I just want to go out there and make the best play at that time, whether it's running, whether it's finding a person to throw it to,' he said. 'So we've been practicing that, this offseason, this training camp. It's hard to kind of really (practice) them because they're so abrupt. They're out of nowhere. You just go out there and try to make a play and don't make something bad, worse.'
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