{"id":801598,"date":"2026-08-02T01:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/801598\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T01:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:57:15","slug":"with-bo-nixs-brains-jaylen-waddles-feet-super-bowl-in-sight-for-broncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/801598\/","title":{"rendered":"With Bo Nix’s brains, Jaylen Waddle’s feet, Super Bowl in sight for Broncos"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Broncos\u2019 new headquarters are so palatial, employees receive points when they exit the building.<\/a><\/p>\n

J.K. Dobbins has promised to be healthy<\/a>, and if not, there is an MRI machine on site. Evan Engram\u2019s key card permits him to leave witness protection on Sundays. Ben Powers\u2019 foot is surgically repaired<\/a>. Brandon Jones has his biceps back, and his bare feet are more calloused for the journey ahead.\n<\/p>\n

The Broncos are not fighting recent history \u2014 of no winning seasons, of zero playoff victories. They are poised to make history.<\/p>\n

They broke the Bills. And they would have punked the Patriots had their starting quarterback or running back played.\n<\/p>\n

Two days into the 2026 training camp, the Broncos have their doubters, especially from sportsbooks who believe they will finish with nine wins and miss the playoffs.<\/p>\n

None are inside the 320,000-square foot headquarters.\n<\/p>\n

In coach Sean Payton\u2019s fourth season, the Broncos are positioned to win the franchise\u2019s fourth Super Bowl.\n<\/p>\n

Watching practice, two reasons why emerge on loop: Bo Nix\u2019s brains and Jaylen Waddle\u2019s feet. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Broncos boast a championship-caliber defense, steeped in familiarity. There will be one new starter at defensive end for the departed John Franklin-Myers, with Malcolm Roach and Eyioma Uwazurike capable of filling the void.\n<\/p>\n

It is the offense that has held the Broncos back. It still sounds weird to say about a Payton team, but the truth is obvious. The Broncos were terrible on early downs and early in games last season.<\/p>\n

It is why they were chasing more than limes after tequila.<\/p>\n

They are not going 12-3 in one-score games again. They will likely play only eight, needing five victories.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Peyton Manning started, the Broncos will be dynamic, explosive.\n<\/p>\n

It traces back to Nix. He looks better physically than at any point of his career, his right ankle fixed, and lingering college injuries a distant memory.<\/p>\n

Feel good, play better. And faster.<\/p>\n

While focus remains on Nix\u2019s feet \u2014 he is already making plays off script \u2014 it is his head that matters. There is a point in a quarterback\u2019s career where he becomes focused on the defense, not his own personnel.<\/p>\n

Nix has reached this intersection.<\/p>\n

He is not Manning changing plays at the line of scrimmage, but he is more equipped to audible because he knows what he is seeing. Davis Webb getting the calls in more quickly will also help Nix diagnose with roughly 10 seconds on the play clock.\n<\/p>\n

All those exotic sub packages and third down defenses will no longer look like a foreign film without subtitles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose can be a little more complex and it begins to slow down a little bit when you get into year two and year three. You begin to not get fooled as much,\u201d Payton said. \u201cAnd in that area he is a lot further along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nix will go from making sure he didn\u2019t turn the ball over as a rookie to making a star turn as a 26-year-old. He is entering his prime as the Broncos\u2019 championship window opens wide and says aaagh!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a second-nature thought process. You know the play, so you are not thinking about the operation, the motion, the route concept or the handoff point. You can attack the defense in a more strategic way,\u201d Nix said Saturday. \u201cMy eyes are up a little more. It\u2019s by memory at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next two seasons \u2014 before an expected huge contract extension for Nix kicks in \u2014 are the time to win at a level not witnessed in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

When the Broncos claimed their last title, it was more oil can than Vatican. But lost in the No Fly Zone\u2019s gravitational pull and Von Miller\u2019s matrix bend around the edge, the offense had weapons.\n<\/p>\n

Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders eclipsed 1,000-yards receiving. There was also balance. C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman combined for 1,583 rushing yards and 78 first downs.\n<\/p>\n

The Broncos fell far too short of those numbers last season.<\/p>\n

Dobbins is trying to speak 17 games into existence. Even if he gives the Broncos 13, they will be fine.<\/p>\n

It is Waddle who will be the catalyst.<\/p>\n

There is no reason the Broncos cannot have a pair of 1,000-yard targets (Courtland Sutton and Waddle).\n<\/p>\n

Waddle is what Nix needed. A player who can pile up yards after the catch, a trash talker who can break ankles on slants and beat corners deep.<\/p>\n

It is not a coincidence that Nix\u2019s first pass in 11-on-11 drills keeps going to Waddle. He is the hack. The shortcut on long gains, a receiver capable of winning from hash mark to hash mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiddle of the field, outside, vertically, behind the line of scrimmage. Anywhere \u2014 we are going to utilize him,\u201d Nix said.<\/p>\n

It has been on display in the limited sample size. Waddle does not look like the other receivers, other than Marvin Mims Jr. Payton has a type, and it is 6-foot-3-ish and 210 pounds. Waddle measures 5-10, 185.\n<\/p>\n

But he is tremendous and amphibious, breaking free of the prototype because \u201che is one of those players who can walk on water,\u201d Payton said.<\/p>\n

Already in camp, he has scored on deep strikes and made a one-handed grab in full sprint that dropped jaws.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might be faster than when he was in Miami, and I didn\u2019t think that was physically possible,\u201d said safety Brandon Jones, who was Waddle\u2019s teammate with the Dolphins. \u201cHe brings a different type of juice. He is a guy that can line up anywhere, catch any ball on any route.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos have not talked about a receiver like this in more than a decade. It happened in 2015 when the Broncos overcame the odds.<\/p>\n

This looks similar. It feels like that.<\/p>\n

This Broncos offense should go from the turtle to full throttle.<\/p>\n

Nix will throw 30 touchdown passes and reach 4,000 yards. Holding leads longer will free the defense to create more turnovers.<\/p>\n

This team is almost identical to the group that was a Jarrett Stidham turnover and a Payton brain freeze on eschewing a field goal from going to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Now Nix is wiser, and Waddle is better.<\/p>\n

Walk through the new facility, which houses 300 employees, features 95 underground parking spots, a golf simulator, a locker room with a sunken lounge, and a cafeteria with a chef making everything from salmon to bison burgers, and nothing is spared.<\/p>\n

This season, the Broncos, if healthy, should win the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

There are no excuses or Bo excuses.<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broncos\u2019 new headquarters are so palatial, employees receive points when they exit the building. J.K. Dobbins has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,42232,10148,38205,2858,45695,96498,2864,86641,6315,301,2863,187,3943,27515,28551,34717,38207,165,42241,6324,6,9,96499,302,2865,8131,66,198,13349,3788,16371],"class_list":["post-801598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-ben-powers","tag-bo-nix","tag-brandon-jones","tag-broncos","tag-broncos-offense","tag-c-j-anderson","tag-courtland-sutton","tag-davis-webb","tag-demaryius-thomas","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-emmanuel-sanders","tag-evan-engram","tag-j-k-dobbins","tag-john-franklin-myers","tag-latest-headlines","tag-malcolm-roach","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-no-fly-zone","tag-nuggets","tag-peyton-manning","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-super-bowl","tag-troy-renck","tag-von-miller"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}