Clearly, Bo Nix’s peers value his intangibles more than league-wide media value his tangibles.
“He’s a dog,” Raiders outside linebacker Maxx Crosby said, . “I’ll give it to him.”
On Monday, Nix was announced as No. 59 on the , voted on by players across the league. It’s a tangible point — despite the triviality of offseason rankings — to rising league-wide respect for the 26-year-old Broncos quarterback, who put together an utterly disjointed sophomore season that nonetheless ended with a momentous playoff win over the Buffalo Bills and a spot in the AFC Championship.
The NFL’s ultimately made clear his placement had little to do with advanced metrics, which reporters and fans across the league have bandied about for two years in discussing Nix’s flaws. Little to do, even, with counting stats, where Nix currently stands at the top of a loaded 2024 quarterback class. Nix has risen to No. 59 — up from No. 64 after his rookie season in 2025 — because of an ability to seize the moment that is nearly impossible to define but innately easy to identify.
No. 59 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026… QB Bo Nix!
— NFL (@NFL)
“I don’t know what it is,” teammate and All-Pro Pat Surtain said in an interview with the NFL for Nix’s placement. “But like, when he’s down, and he feels like the urgency picks up, itap like — he turns into Superman.”
The NFL pointed out, in Nix’s video announcement, that the rising third-year quarterback led the league in total comeback wins (13) in 2026. That was good enough for his peers to rank him above a slew of notable quarterbacks: San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and former Ravens Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson, to name a few.
| Name | Team | NFL Top 100 Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Bo Nix | Broncos | #59 |
| Trevor Lawrence | Jaguars | #62 |
| Lamar Jackson | Ravens | #69 |
| Jordan Love | Packers | #72 |
| Baker Mayfield | Buccaneers | #77 |
| Brock Purdy | 49ers | #85 |
| Bryce Young | Panthers | #98 |
Elsewhere this offseason, Nix came in at No. 18 among quarterbacks in , reflecting a clear disconnect in league-wide opinion around the Broncos’ franchise quarterback. He led the league in game-winning drives in 2025, finished eighth among all quarterbacks in passing yards (3,931) and 10th in Next Gen Stats’ Expected Points Added metric; he also ranked 28th of 33 qualified quarterbacks in yards per attempt and 29th in passer rating on throws on intermediate routes.
Both of those last points are clear growth areas for Nix and are also inexorably tied to deficiencies in Denver’s offense that the franchise has taken steps to address this offseason. New star receiver Jaylen Waddle saw 57% of his receiving yards come in that intermediate part of the field last year, and adds a kind of run-after-catch dynamism that Nix didn’t have previously in his receiver room.
“You could be first-and-10 and starting a drive and go one-and-done because he takes it 75, 80 yards,” Nix said in June of Waddle. “Thatap the kind of weapon that we added, and thatap I think what we all have been out here watching.”
Nix was the second Bronco to appear in this year’s NFL Top 100, after Zach Allen placed No. 73. The NFL rolls rankings out in descending order from No. 100.
A reunion with Michael Wilhoite? It’s possible
The Broncos could be reintroducing a familiar face to their defensive staff this fall, after a one-year absence marred by legal troubles.
After misdemeanor charges were dropped in June against former Denver assistant coach Michael Wilhoite, stemming from a 2025 incident in which Wilhoite allegedly punched a police officer at Denver International Airport, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Denver Post that it’s entirely possible Wilhoite will be back on the Broncos’ staff this fall in 2026. No agreement has been formalized, the source said.
Wilhoite served as the Broncos’ outside linebackers coach in 2023 and 2024 under head coach Sean Payton, whom he previously worked with in New Orleans in 2019 and 2020. Payton fired Wilhoite in March 2025 shortly after Wilhoite was originally charged with felony assault, a charge later downgraded and fully dropped.
That criminal case would remain sealed as long as Wilhoite completed a diversion program, which he has not yet finished, as a representative of the Denver District Attorney’s office told The Post Monday. Wilhoite is still facing a pending civil suit from the police officer, Jesus Galvan Chavez, involved in the 2025 incident.
