The Denver Broncos are in the Santa Clara, CA, for Saturday’s preseason debut vs. the San Francisco 49ers. Thursday’s joint practice was the two teams’ first chance to go against an outside opponent since last season ended.
It gave 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan another long look at Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. After practice, Shanahan shared his thoughts on Denver’s second-year quarterback.
“Huge fan of him. We loved him coming out of college,” Shanahan said of Nix. “And I thought what he did last year was unbelievable, but anytime you’ve got a quarterback with a big arm who’s very mobile, made of the right stuff, extremely tough. I mean, they got a real good one.”
Nix had a tremendous rookie season, winning 10 games and passing for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns, leading all rookie quarterbacks. He helped the Broncos finally snap their previous eight-year playoff drought.
Shanahan’s comments on Nix reveal that there’s no shortage of Bo appreciators in the NFL. In the media, Nix may still have his share of critics and doubters, but inside the league, he gets the respect he deserves.
Kyle’s father, Mike Shanahan, who coached the Broncos from the mid-1990s until 2008 and won back-to-back Super Bowls, was also on hand at Thursday’s joint practice. He could could be seen studying the Nix when the Broncos’ offense was out on the field.
Sean Payton has great respect for the Shanahans. Mike won three Super Bowls as a coach, two as a head coach in Denver and one as an offensive coordinator of the 49ers. Kyle hasn’t been as successful as his old man, but since arriving in San Francisco as head coach back in 2017, he’s led the 49ers to two Super Bowl appearances, losing both to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Meanwhile, Payton won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints back in 2009 with Drew Brees under center. Payton recently declared that the 2025 Broncos are the seventh team he’s coached that he believes “is capable” of winning the Super Bowl.
Payton followed that bold declaration up by putting the NFL on notice with regard to Nix, saying that he sees his guy becoming one of the top four or five quarterbacks in the league “over the next two years,” and saying that he believes he’ll be “superstar.”
They’re Mile-High expectations that Nix is working to shoulder dutifully.”Well, first, it’s good to have a coach that believes in you, but it’s also, if he believes that, then I know I’ve got a lot of work to do to get there,” Nix said after Thursday’s joint practice. “I don’t want to let that word go void. I want to give my best shot at going out there and doing that. Not just, obviously, for him, for our team, for this organization, but for myself. We’ve put a lot of hard work into this. Each and every day, it’s a battle, it’s a grind, and we just want to see the fruits of our labor. So I think that’s obviously our goal. We talk about Super Bowls, we talk about winning culture; that helps a lot in being the best I can be.”
Nix played well against the 49ers’ defense in Thursday’s joint practice. Payton confirmed afterward that the starters will see some action in Saturday night’s preseason tilt.
