Mike McGlinchey Recalls How Bo Nix's Playoff Injury Rocked the Broncos

On January 17, when Sean Payton announced Bo Nix had fractured his ankle in the Denver Broncos’ 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round, it was like a punch in the gut.

The injury happened on the third-to-last play of the game. Nix finished the game, and while he knew something was badly wrong, Broncos Country had roughly 45 minutes of bliss, reveling in the excitement of returning to the AFC championship game for the first time in almost a decade, which would be played at Mile High.

When the shock and disappointment wore off, most people’s first thought was likely of Nix and how bad it must have hurt to work so hard to get so close to the Super Bowl, only to have it ripped away from you. But imagine what that locker room was going through after making countless sacrifices, executing at just the right time, and earning the right to host the AFC title game.

Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey recently gave fans a glimpse of what it was like for the players when the news hit the locker room last January.

“It was a really hard situation for all of us,” McGlinchey said in June, during mandatory minicamp. “You work so hard to earn the opportunity to play late into the season, and he didn't get to participate. That stinks.”

Devastated Locker Room

Nix is this team’s young franchise quarterback, and McGlinchey makes his living protecting him, so it’s understandable that he also thought of how tough it must have been for the signal-caller. But if you think you were shocked upon hearing the news, imagine being in that locker room among the men who’d shed blood, sweat, and tears to get to the conference championship as they were told their leader would not be advancing with them.

The Broncos would have to host the New England Patriots without their leader. Jarrett Stidham stepped up to the plate in a very tough situation, but his performance was nowhere near good enough to come out on top.

Despite holding Drake Maye to well under 100 passing yards and just 10 points, the Broncos had to watch him and the Patriots hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy at Empower Field at Mile High, knowing that had Nix been healthy, the shoe would have likely been on the other foot. We all know that if Nix had played in that game, the Broncos would have gone to the Super Bowl.

Energized

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) during mini camp at Broncos Park. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

However, that’s not how the cookie crumbled. Nix quickly underwent surgery to repair his fractured ankle and began the rehab process. He had a little setback of sorts when bone spurs began to cause him some pain in April, which led to a clean-up procedure that set his return timetable back a few weeks.

But McGlinchey saw how hard Nix attacked his recovery.

“A bunch of us live and train here year-round, and Bo has been here every single day grinding to make sure he's ready,” McGlinchey said. “Watching his work ethic and his spirit through that process has been awesome.”

Nix missed the Broncos’ voluntary OTA practices, but he made it to the field for the two mandatory minicamp practices. Having their leader back on the field and in the huddle was a real boost to McGlinchey and the players.

“I'm really excited for what he's going to do moving forward, and it definitely gives us a lot of juice in the huddle when he's standing across from me,” McGlinchey said.

Continuity Booster

Denver Broncos offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey (69) reacts before the start of mini camp at Broncos Park. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

At the podium during mandatory minicamp, Nix said that the 2026 Broncos were much farther along in the process than in his previous two years. That’s encouraging to hear, because there are some newish elements to the offense, especially with Davis Webb taking over as the coordinator and play-caller.

However, the Broncos retained 90% of their snaps from last season, re-signing 17 of their own free agents. Beyond the Jaylen Waddle trade, the Tycen Anderson signing, and the draft, the 2026 Broncos are much the same as their 2025 counterparts. Continuity is king.

McGlinchey seemed to concur with Nix, though he did offer up the caveat of how much harder it is to get a bead on trench work in the non-contact format of the offseason program.

“I thought it was a great couple weeks of work,” McGlinchey said. “There wasn't a lot of roster turnover this year, so having the experience we have in the building and having played together as long as we have is a good thing. It allows us to start from a higher point than we did each year before.”

It didn’t feel like the Broncos were starting from square one this time around. Perhaps that’s the best way of explaining it.

“If you're not improving, you're getting worse in this league. I think we took steps to improve from OTAs through training camp and throughout the season last year,” McGlinchey said. “We were better in the 18th game than we were in the first game, and that's the goal this year as well. We have to be better in training camp than we were in OTAs and continue building from there.”

That building will begin in earnest when training camp begins on July 28. Nix is expected to be fully cleared by then, and the Broncos will be off to the 2026 races, looking to make up for lost time.

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