Bo Nix Camp Update — August 23: Two Drives, Two Scores in the Return
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Nix played his first live football since the ankle fracture and scored on both of his drives, going six of nine for seventy-six yards and a touchdown against Green Bay. The team lost 33-13 around him, and Sean Payton's answer is starters into the third quarter of Friday's finale.
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Bo Nix took his first live snaps since fracturing his ankle on Friday night against Green Bay, and both of his drives ended in points. The line: six of nine for 76 yards and a touchdown, a 129.9 passer rating across 15 snaps, per Chad Jensen at Mile High Huddle. The opening drive went six plays and 65 yards, kept alive by a 35-yard third-down strike to Jaylen Waddle — the new receiver's first catch as a Bronco — and finished with a 21-yard touchdown throw to running back R.J. Harvey. The second possession went nine plays and produced a 53-yard Wil Lutz field goal. Then he sat down, right at the snap count Sean Payton had set publicly on Wednesday, a short stint like the 14 or so the starters played in Atlanta, per Will Petersen at Denver Sports. Nix's own review, per the team's website: "It was like riding a bike." Payton graded the outing "solid," per Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.
The night around him was rougher. Green Bay won 33-13, led 23-10 at halftime, and Payton's postgame was blunt — "I can't think of one area that we played or outplayed them, honestly," per Petersen, with "too many minus plays, too many penalties offensively" in Florio's transcription. The consequence lands on Nix's calendar: Payton wants the starters playing "until the third quarter" in Friday's home finale against Minnesota, per Petersen, which means the longest Nix outing of the summer comes 16 days before the opener in Kansas City. One box the week did not check: we saw no reporting on designed quarterback runs, the part of Nix's game the rebuilt ankle most directly funds, so that question rides along to Friday.
If you're new to this feed, the June read on Nix was that two stable 17-game seasons argued for him and two unknowns argued for caution — the surgically repaired ankle and Davis Webb's first year calling plays. The ankle unknown now has 15 live snaps of good film against it.
What to watch: how Nix and the first team look across three quarters against the Vikings on Friday, and whether the designed runs finally show up. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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