Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has appeared on the Up and Adams Show with Kay Adams several times. It would seem that Adams' ability to coax candid remarks from coaches and players is contagious, as evidenced by Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and wide receiver Courtland Sutton's recent appearance on her show, as the duo opened up about many facets of the 2025 team.
Hot on the heels of Nix and the first-team offense's lackluster showing vs. the San Francisco 49ers, the second-year quarterback was hypercritical of Tuesday's practice session, which was punctuated by him throwing an interception.
"I like the narrative that we had a good practice, but I wasn't necessarily too excited with it today," Nix said to Adams. "I felt like, starting from me—the energy could have been better today. But I've just got to do my job better, and until it's perfect, it's not done well enough. So, we're excited just to be able to learn and grow together. We've got a good football team, but we don't want it to be just talk. You know, we're going to hear that enough, we want to go out there and actually be a good football team. It doesn't happen by accident."
Knee-jerk reactions to Nix and company's unimpressive debut have flashed across social media. But the sky is not falling.
The desire to execute against the impressive Broncos defense should be a positive sign that Nix is pushing himself and the others around him. All the Super Bowl hype, which Adams also brought with her this week, could force Nix to grow up even faster than his current rapid trajectory.
Sutton Underestimated Nix
Sutton has grown close to Nix ever since the quarterback arrived from Oregon last April, and the long-time Bronco feels that his signal-caller's maturity and football IQ set the team up for success.
"Man, I think I underestimated how smart he is. I kept saying that he was a very smart individual, on and off the field. But like, he's very mature and knowledgeable beyond his years on and off the field. I learn a lot from him in the mornings, getting to have a conversation with him," Sutton told Adams. "In between plays, on the sideline, even in the huddle, there will be times something's happened. And he's like, 'Alright, the next time we get into this, we're going to do it like this.' And it's like, just those little things, you know, for a guy that's going into his second year, for him to have that awareness. Man, it's amazing to be able to pick his brain on certain things."
Payton's Super Bowl Expectations
Broncos fans have heard about how the dreaded sophomore slump could rear its head in 2025, but even that curse has given way to the specter of overloaded expectations, which, if not managed correctly, could drag Nix and this team down with it.
Payton has undoubtedly made a conscious play to talk up his team's championship potential and ambitions, and that came with a far greater vision. Indulging in such button-pressing is designed to get the utmost out of this talented squad, so it's hard to blame Payton for raising the bar.
Most of all, Payton has made it clear just how much he believes in Nix and how far he can take the Broncos. Consequently, the franchise mantle has been passed on to Nix in no uncertain terms.
For his part, Nix is obviously reassured by his head coach's faith in him, but it's not something he takes lightly.
"Listen, I'm glad that I've got a coach that believes in us as players to put that stuff out there. But the good thing about our team is, I've said it already before, but we're going to have guys that continue to show up and work. They're not going to let the noise and distractions get to them," Nix told Adams. "But they're excited to get out there, and you don't really hear— I mean—the Super Bowl kind of goes without having to say it. We're all working for that goal. And you can just kind of see in the demeanors of guys, and by the way that guys show up, that that is our goal. And we don't really have to talk about it. We can just go out there and be about it in practice, and practice hard. And that's just going to make each other better. You never know, we could go out there and have a great season, [or we] could go out there and have to grow and learn a lot. But, we're definitely going to be trying, we're definitely going to work really hard at it."
In the modern age of blanket coverage of training camp and the preseason games, every time a star player like Nix stubs his toe, it goes under the microscope. As the dog days of training camp march ahead, each day will test Nix and his teammates to the max.
