The Denver Broncos went from being an NFL cellar-dweller to winning double-digit games and making the playoffs last season. The team's long walkabout through the NFL desert was initially snapped by the hiring of the right head coach in 2023.
Sean Payton came to town, tried to make lemonade with Russell Wilson, and ultimately decided that his long-term quarterback was not on the Broncos roster at the time. Following Wilson's controversial benching with two games left in the 2023 season and subsequent (and painful) release the ensuing spring, the Broncos focused all of their organizational attention on identifying and pursuing Payton's ideal, long-term guy.
Enter Bo Nix. And the rest is history.
No doubt, this leaves out the Herculean contributions of Vance Joseph's top-10 defense last season, but suddenly, the Broncos are an attractive NFL destination for prospective free agents, as Payton himself remarked earlier this week at the annual owners meetings in Florida.
“I think we’re a team players want to play for. I think, certainly, we’re a city that’s very appealing to athletes to want to live," Payton said on Monday. "I think a lot of that is a result of maybe some of the early success we had last year with the young quarterback.”
Look no further back than the Peyton Manning era in Denver. Free agents would often take less money to sign with the Broncos for the opportunity to play with Manning, and then-GM John Elway capitalized on that asset to resounding effect.
Payton makes no bones about the role Nix played in his team's 2024 success and how that helped the Broncos' lauded free-agent recruitment last month. But the veteran coach also lands on the other factor athletes are attracted to the Broncos. Namely, the city of Denver.
Denver has been in a constant state of growth for decades but saw a massive influx in population over the past few years, specifically since the pandemic broke in 2020. There are many reasons why people find the Mile High City so attractive, not the least of which is its culturally purple social fabric, the Rocky Mountains, the skiing and snowboarding opportunities, the legality of certain 'green' recreational substances, and the weather, among others.
That all certainly helps in the Broncos' pitch to free agents, but there are many great places to live across the fruited plain. After all, the unique attributes of Denver did little to avail the Broncos when they were turning in five, six, and seven-win seasons post-Super Bowl 50.
The bottom line is that free agents want to be part of what Payton is building with Nix as the centerpiece. Throw in the immense impact the still-new Walton-Penner ownership group has already made, and its considerable resources, and it makes for one heck of a sales pitch for GM George Paton.
“It’s always nice when players want to be here. Now, we didn’t get all our players, but we feel good with where we’re at," Paton said on Monday in Flordia. "It all starts with ownership and the head coach, then, obviously, when you have a young quarterback, players want to be here.”
Nix will continue to be a beacon for the Broncos, so long as the wins keep coming. There are always reasons for fans to fear the dreaded 'sophomore slump' for NFL quarterbacks, but the antidote to such regression is organizational stability and coaching continuity.
The Broncos have both. And what's more, Payton is the face of that coaching continuity, which is the single best predictor of what the future likely holds for Nix and why he's not a very rational candidate for the type of Year 2 regression that can plague highly-drafted young quarterbacks.
Throw in Nix's football character and the level of talent and production that he's already displayed, and it makes for a very optimistic outlook from the outside. The Broncos used that to their advantage well during this year's free-agency period, even though, as Paton said, they didn't get "all" the guys they had perhaps targeted.
Next up on Denver's offseason calendar is the 2025 NFL draft, which kicks off in exactly three weeks in Green Bay, WI, on April 24. The Broncos hold selections in each of the first four rounds, and judging by Paton's resume as a draft artist, along with the two-year track record of Payton's influence on his GM counterpart, fans have every reason to expect another quality draft haul.
