Whispers are swirling around a failing aspect of Bo Nix’s game that can derail his future with the Broncos if it isn’t fixed
Bo Nix has had a very tumultuous 2026 season so far and the NFL is starting to notice a big part of his struggles are due to an element of his game that’s changed since his ankle injury.
Let’s just go ahead and be real: Bo Nix has not taken the step forward the Denver Broncos expected him to take in 2026.
It’s fair to say Nix has struggled through the first six games of the season. A big reason why is his accuracy and efficieny: Nix averages the second-lowest yards per attempt at 5.9, yet he’s 30th in CPOE (-4.0%).
Meaning, he hasn’t been accurate despite throwing the ball at alarmingly short distances. He’s also been highly inefficient, ranking 25th in EPA/dropback at -0.17, per Next Gen Stats.
But there’s another aspect of Nix’s game that the NFL believes is holding him back even more and ESPN insiders Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler recently shed some light on the league’s thought process.
“I did have someone last week tell me the big difference with Nix was that he’s not getting himself out of bad spots with his legs the way he did last season but that he doesn’t look much different otherwise,” Graziano recently said in ESPN’s Week 7 ‘Buzz File’. “But that lack of running is a big deal, and if it doesn’t improve, we could be left watching his flaws the rest of the way.”
Bo Nix isn’t Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen by any means, but he’s currently averaging just six rushing yards per game after averaging about 21 per game last year. He averages just 1.7 yards per carry after averaging 4.3 yards per carry in 2025 and his -1.2 rush yards over expected per attempt ranks 44th, whereas he ranked right around league average with a 0.7 mark during his second season, per Next Gen Stats.
It’s the last number that carries the most weight. As Graziano notes, Nix’s legs are more about getting him out of bad spots than they are eating up yards and that simply isn’t happening in 2026. He’s almost become statue-esque to a degree and it’s been a major crux through the first trimester of the season.
It’s fair to wonder just how much the ankle injury sapped Bo Nix’s escapability and overall mobility. You don’t want to speculate too much, but he literally suffered the injury not even 10 months ago and those kind of injuries take time to heal.
It’ll be up to time to decide how this eventually turns out and it’s unfortunate that this is happening in Nix’s third year, because the Broncos will have to decide if they want to approve his fifth-year option or not during the 2027 offseason. More poor performances could shut that down, thus placing Nix in a contract year heading into the regular season.
Regardless, the good news is there is still plenty of time to shape up, but we’ll have to wait see to what degree that happens over the next couple of months.
