Bo Nix and his bum ankle might be in better shape than originally expected.
The Denver Broncos quarterback, speaking with the media Wednesday, said he should return from what he deemed a "typical bone break" in four to six weeks.
On Tuesday, following Denver's AFC Championship Game defeat to the New England Patriots, Broncos head coach Sean Payton said his QB had a “predisposed” condition that made his break inevitable.
Nix contradicted that notion, explaining it was a simple break.
"Nothing predisposed, nothing that was there originally,'' Nix said, via 9news' Mike Klis. "That might have gotten confused. … Didn't have any predisposed issues. My ankles were feeling really good."
Having started the first 36 games, including playoffs, on his NFL career, Nix was unable to play in the AFC title game after he broke his ankle on the final drive of Denver's 33-30 overtime win over the Bills. It was on the third-to-last play of the game, but he kept playing.
"It was just a simple step with my foot up in the air,'' Nix said. "My body weight came down on it. It sort of got twisted up. Got out of there pretty quick. I think that's the good part of being athletic, sometimes your body gets out of worse situations. So it could have been a worse landing but all that force went into the only place it could and it was one of those missteps."
Nix subsequently underwent successful surgery and NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Jan. 25 that Nix was likely to return by minicamp (first or second week of June), though it would seem he's on an earlier trajectory.
"Just a simple bone break,'' he said. "Right on my road to recovery so a typical bone break, four to six weeks, will be back training, ready to roll. You hear a lot of different weeks and speculation out there but … I'll actually be able to start training back at the same time I was going to start training. So don't miss any time there.
"I'm excited for this offseason. The way it ended it definitely was abrupt, it's definitely not how you want it to end but my sights are already on next year and how I can be better and how I can lead this team better and play better. I'm excited for the offseason work."
Nix, 25, was the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. He's quarterbacked Denver to playoff appearances in each of his two seasons. In 2025, he completed 388 passes on an NFL-high 612 pass attempts for 3,931 yards, 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
By the quarterback's account, he should be good to go for Year 3 as the reigning AFC West champions aim to defend their title and contend for the Super Bowl once more.
