SMART MOVE: Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix WILL NOT Play vs. Minnesota Vikings on Friday

First off with Bo Nix.

After Wednesday's practice, Broncos head coach Sean Payton told us that Bo Nix probably won't play here on Friday's game.

Now, when the game takes place on Friday, don't be surprised if Bo goes out there in a helmet jersey and just goes through the normal pregame routine routine.

but doesn't play at all in the game.

That's very common practice in the NFL preseason, in particular with Sean Payton's teams.

But then again, he could also be in a sweatsuit.

That's not the point, though.

The point is, why did the Broncos do this in terms of not getting him reps in this preseason game? He didn't play in the first preseason game against the Falcons, and he played a series and a half, two series last week against the Green Bay Packers.

Well, it's What they saw in that series and a half against the Packers, plus the collective body of work throughout training camp, there's no question that Bo Nix is the franchise guy here for Denver, right? And for him coming off that major injury back in January, he's checked every box that the team has been looking at in terms of Is Bo ready? What has Bo done? And I'll tell you this, Bo has changed so much of his game to prepare for certain things.

Now, as a rookie, he had to come in and he had to earn the respect of the locker room.

And that takes time.

And he did that.

In 2025, he had to come in and prove that, hey, I'm growing.

I can be the guy here.

He was the most clutch quarterback in the NFL alongside, I'd say, Matthew Stafford last season.

When you talk about the come from behind victories, the amount of fourth quarter comebacks, Bo was captain clutch last season.

We saw him out-duel Josh Allen in the playoffs, especially leading that game-winning drive in that playoff game where he suffered that broken ankle.

It's what he did throughout training camp practice, connecting with guys like Sutton, Waddle, Pat Bryant, you name it, all those guys.

His command of the offense, he's more comfortable.

I've noticed that.

He's got a new level of confidence about him in terms of, I'd say, his ability.

He's made certain tweaks to some of his mechanics in the offseason, and I think that's going to help him a lot more.

I think one of the biggest things he talked about was getting a quicker release and and being able to hit guys quicker on certain concepts.

And I've seen that translate into practice against the live simulated blitz against this Broncos defense that we have seen dominate the last two seasons.

Bo is doing things against them that's commanding the attention of guys like Pat Sertan, Alex Singleton.