Broncos' Sean Payton rips NFL analyst who said Bo Nix 'looks like the same QB' from college

Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post on Aug 28, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — Sean Payton apparently has a little free time.

The Broncos head coach took to Twitter to call out a take he didn’t like regarding his quarterback, Bo Nix.

It started with a clip from the FS1 show “First Things First” in which analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz was asked if he thinks it’s more likely Nix takes a step forward or a step back this fall.

Schwartz is a University of Oregon grad, so there’s familiarity with Nix beyond the past two seasons.

“With those two (options) presented to me, I’d say step back,” Schwartz said. “But I do think he just is what he is at this point. He looks like the same quarterback he was in college. I watched every single one of his snaps at Oregon and he looks like exactly the same guy in Denver. He’s consistent, right? He’s not gonna make mistakes. But he’s not gonna push the ball down the field all that often. We know his air yards were short. His advanced stats put him right in the middle of the NFL.”

Schwartz noted Nix’s mobility as a plus and said Payton needs to get Nix throwing the ball into the middle of the field more frequently.

Schwartz also said he gives “Sean Payton credit. They’ve built the offense around what (Nix) can do and what he can’t do. They do a really good job of maximizing his talent.”

Payton, apparently, was not feeling the love.

He responded to a nearly 5-minute clip of the show with one sentence: “Always easy to tell who works at it and who doesn’t.”

Nix’s ability and willingness to throw the ball down the field has been a topic of conversation going back to his college days, and Payton has pushed back against the notion that he’s most comfortable throwing near or behind the line of scrimmage since the day Denver drafted him.

In 2025, Nix’s air yards per target ranked No. 24 in the NFL according to Next Gen Stats. He also had the fourth-most attempts of 20-plus air yards, though, and was tied for fourth with eight touchdown passes on such throws. His 91.4 passer rating on those 67 downfield attempts checked in No. 15. Nix has thrown 19 touchdowns of 20-plus air yards in his career (regular season and postseason), a mark that leads the NFL in that time span.

Payton, like the rest of the Broncos so far this summer, clearly does not anticipate his quarterback taking a step back or staying about the same this fall.