The Denver Broncos‘ joint practice sessions with the Green Bay Packers on Friday provided another test for rookie quarterback Bo Nix. In what’s becoming a recurring theme, the Broncos starting-quarterback-in-waiting sailed through the challenge with a calm serenity, which is coming to typify his focused personality.

It’s already well-documented that Nix is wowing his own teammates, but he also impressed the league’s highest-paid cornerback, Jaire Alexander, as practice wore on under a Mile-High sun.

“I like Bo Nix,” Alexander said, via Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “I think he’s a young talent and I think he’s gonna be a pretty good quarterback in this league… As practice went along, his decision-making became crisper. It became better. He carries himself like a veteran.”

On the doorstep of his first professional start, Nix looks like a rookie in name only, according to Alexander. Perhaps his level of comfortability should be chalked up to the NCAA-record 61 college starts spanning the SEC and PAC-12.

While that experience undoubtedly plays its part, Nix has a method of keeping himself relaxed and mentally in tune with what he needs to do so that pressure can be managed.

“I learned early in college that the more pressure you put on yourself, the tougher it is to go out there and play free,” Nix admitted. “Over the past couple of seasons, I feel like I’ve played more and more free. That’s contributed to the good days. There’s enough pressure on you already, so you might as well just go out there and have fun playing the game of football. Not many people get this opportunity, and I’m just blessed to be here and be part of such a great team and great organization. I still always wake up and be like, ‘You know what? I get to go practice for an NFL team today.’ So can’t imagine what it is like playing on Sundays yet, but we’re almost there.”

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In all fairness, Packers superstar quarterback Jordan Love looked far less composed than Nix did during the joint practices. Much like Week 7 last year, the Broncos’ aggressive defense caused him problems all day long.

Following practice, Love was magnanimous enough to tip his cap to Nix, admitting that he’s a big fan of the Broncos’ rookie and what he can do over the long haul.

“I’m a big supporter of Bo Nix,” Love remarked, via Tomasson. “We’ll see what pans out in that QB situation… I wish him all the best if he gets an opportunity to start, play in some games this year. He’s in it for the long journey, keep stepping up and get better every day.”

As the days and practice sessions slide by, Nix is undeniably cementing his position as the probable starter for Broncos head coach Sean Payton moving forward. That being said, and as Nix’s Packers counterpart can attest to, the NFL’s challenges only increase in ferocity.

Therefore, Nix is well aware that the best way to navigate the notoriously steep NFL learning curve is by fully committing to improving daily.

“It’s steep, but I think whenever you learn a new offense or whenever you get into a new level [or a] new scheme, it’s always going to be different,” Nix said about embracing the process. “There is always going to be learning curves and there is always going to be a lot of change. You just have to adapt to the change and welcome the change as much as possible. Just kind of make things normal, make a new routine and get in there and study real hard and make sure you know what you’re doing. Even today in practice, you have to think through plays. Even though you go through it the night before, you might get a different look, or you may get something that you haven’t talked about and you have to kind of rely on your reaction. It’s definitely steep, but so far, I feel comfortable and I’m excited to move forward and learn even more.” 

The Broncos ascending rookie might be calm as the hype starts to snowball, but the fans might start losing their minds real soon.

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DENVER – For Shedeur Sanders, Friday night wasn’t ideal.

Colorado’s senior quarterback takes his work seriously and never likes to waste practice time.

Getting on the field in front of a few thousand fans, however, forced Sanders and the Buffaloes to dial it back a notch.

“You’re not seeing much because we’re not doing some of our route combinations and not putting in some of the packages that we would normally put in and giving Shedeur the usage of the whole field and some things that he wanted to do,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said after the Buffs held a practice at All-City Stadium. “So he got a little frustrated because he wanted to do a few more things, but we can’t do that out here in front of the whole country.”

The time is soon to come that Shedeur and the Buffs can let loose, as the season opener on Aug. 29 against North Dakota State (6 p.m., ESPN) is quickly approaching.

Friday night, however, was about getting in some work in a different environment.

After nearly three weeks of practices behind closed doors on campus in Boulder, CU loaded busses on Friday to work out on the home field of Denver Public Schools squads, located on the campus at Denver South High School.

All 5,000 of the free passes to the event were claimed, although it was estimated that about 3,500 to 4,000 fans were attendance. It wasn’t a packed house, but still a quality turnout for an evening event that was announced just one week earlier.

“This is phenomenal for the university, this is phenomenal for the young men,” Coach Prime said.

It is believed that this is the first time CU has ever conducted a preseason practice off campus, but Coach Prime wanted to shake things up a bit.

“Usually in camp, everybody hits a little lull,” he said. “We try to catch them before they hit that so they can bring some excitement, so they can push through just the whole monotonous of the same old, same old routine. And that’s what this was about today. I think they did a phenomenal job. I’m proud of them.”

Coach Prime reported that there were no injuries sustained during the practice. Star cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter did not participate, but not because of injury.

“Travis is good,” Coach Prime said. “We just wanted to give him some rest. He’s great. He can’t wait to see the sellout crowd in our first game.”

Asked if the event brought back memories of his own high school days, at North Fort Myers (Fla.) High School in the 1980s, Coach Prime joked that it didn’t because All-City Stadium, with its artificial turf and 5,000-seat bleachers, was nicer than what he played on as a prep.

“We had a grass field (at North Fort Myers), and I think we had one side of the bleachers,” he said. “It was nothing like this. And this probably (would have been) the biggest crowd I would have ever played in (front of during) high school. This probably was a state championship type of game, and I never made it that far.

“But I’m glad we got to come deep in the community. … I just wanted to change the atmosphere, come over to Denver. The fan base is phenomenal everywhere around the country but we just wanted to come over and show some love, because we got a tremendous amount of love and appreciation and respect from this part of the city as well.”

Originally Published: August 17, 2024 at 1:24 a.m.