Bo Nix’s fractured ankle wasn’t a fluke.
The injury that ended the Denver Broncos quarterback’s remarkable second season and kept him from leading Denver in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots was something that had been waiting to happen, head coach Sean Payton revealed Tuesday at the team’s season-ending press conference.
“What was found was a condition that was predisposed, where when they always find a little bit more when they go in, and it wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when,” Payton said. “The operating surgeon said that this was going to happen sooner than later.”
Nix fractured the bone in his right ankle late in overtime of the Broncos’ thrilling 33-30 divisional round win over the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 17.
Nix underwent surgery in Birmingham, Ala., last week. The procedure went well, and the injury is not expected to bleed into the 2026 season, which represents the best-case scenario for a year that ended in heartbreak.
General manager George Paton said Tuesday the team expects Nix to return around May.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Paton said. “He’s in the building, he’s working every day, and he’ll be back.”
His coach, Payton, once suffered his own serious leg injury on a sideline in 2011 that required nine weeks of recovery. Watching Nix navigate the emotional toll has given him perspective.
“He’s handling it like a pro, man,” Payton said. “I’m sure there’s disappointment for him to have to watch. He literally was just above us here. I asked him, ‘What were you doing, trying to get your scooter laps in?’ He’s got X amount of time on the scooter. Then it goes to crutches, then it goes to the walking boot. You got to know him — he’s fidgety to begin with.”
Payton said the difficulty extends beyond the physical.
“As far as he brought us, and then maybe to see also one of his contemporaries — like someone in his draft class that he would have loved to have competed against — advance,” Payton said. “It can be a tough game.”
That reference was to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, who led New England past the Broncos 10-7 on Sunday. Nix, selected 12th overall, was forced to watch from the skybox as the Patriots punched their ticket to Super Bowl LX.
Payton recalled his own experience in the New Orleans training room in 2011, when the realization set in that the NFL keeps moving without you.
“You sit in that training room and you’re there three times a day, and you realize that the train keeps moving,” Payton said. “There’s a practice going on out there. I’m the head coach, and I’m in here with the bag of ice on my knee and the plate and screws in my leg, and it just keeps moving.”
Despite the injury, Payton praised Nix’s durability throughout the NFL season — a quality that stood out in a draft class where availability was an issue for others. And the coach talked up his quarterback’s ability to protect himself and the ball.
“He’s been one of those players that I would say has been available. Others in that draft class weren’t as available,” Payton said. “The rehab coming off of this will be strong. I think for someone who runs with the ball, he’s done a pretty good job of protecting himself — not all the time, but for the most part, he’s done a pretty good job of sliding and understanding playing for another day.”
Nix posted a message to Broncos Country last week following the surgery, writing on Instagram that “We’re just going to keep climbing higher.”
The climb for the ascending quarterback will resume in May.
