3 Blunt Takeaways on Broncos' First-Team Offense vs. Saints

Did Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix do enough vs. the New Orleans Saints to quiet the growing anxieties?

Aug 23, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws against New Orleans Saints safety Ugo Amadi (0) during the first half at Caesars Superdome. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The Denver Broncos' preseason is officially in the books. On Saturday, the Broncos vanquished the New Orleans Saints 28-19, punctuating the summer with a third straight August victory.

The Broncos finish the preseason 3-0. So what? Still, it's better for a team's soul to win exhibition games than lose them, and the Broncos can only hope that their undefeated summer gives them some momentum entering the regular season.

The preseason is more about the roster depth competing for jobs and for the rookies to demonstrate their acclimation to the playbook and team. But this was a unique preseason finale, with the Broncos' starters seeing an inordinate number of snaps, giving us much to chew on between now and the season-opener on September 7.

What did we learn from preseason Game 3 in the Bayou? Let's get to three key takeaways from the extended preview of the Broncos' first-team offense.

Shaky Offensive Line

The Broncos' first-team offensive line saw action for the first time since preseason Game 1. Despite the unit returning all five of its starters, the Broncos O-line appeared out of sorts.

They couldn't open holes for rookie running back RJ Harvey and Bo Nix was pressured and hit on too many of his dropbacks. This could simply be a case of the rust falling off in chunks, but it's not as if the O-line hasn't been practicing almost daily together since late July.

It wasn't a big enough sample size to justify raising the alarm, and let's not forget that this O-line finished as one of the NFL's top two last year, via ESPN and Pro Football Focus. But if Sean Payton's vision for an improved running game and a big year-two leap by Nix are to be realized, this O-line is going to have to play a lot better than it did vs. the Saints, whose starting defense played with a formidable edge.

What happens next on the Broncos beat? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

Growing Pains

On the heels of his historic rookie season, Nix has been talked about this summer as a quarterback who's already arrived. But the handful of possessions he played in this year's preseason revealed that he's still very much a work in progress.

At Caesars Superdome, Nix was even flagged for a delay of game penalty, after he lost sight of the clock while trying to change the play. It wouldn't be as troubling if he hadn't also been penalized in Game 1 for intentional grounding, giving the San Francisco 49ers a safety to boot, since it happened in his own end zone.

Granted, Nix was under consistent pressure in New Orleans, but he looked far from the cool, calm, and collected quarterback Broncos fans came to know down the stretch last year. After he took a few hits, the second-year quarterback seemed to finally settle in vs. the Saints, leading the Broncos on a six-play, 77-yard touchdown drive early in the second quarter.

Nix finished with a more than respectable 10-of-14 passing for 110 yards and a touchdown, with a quarterback rating of 118.2. More than anything, it seemed like a young quarterback getting reacclimated to the game speed and physicality before the light suddenly came on.

Let's not forget that Nix led the Broncos to 10 wins and a playoff berth as a rookie. That skyrocketed the 2025 expectations, not only externally, but internally, with Payton himself talking about this team's "Super Bowl" potential this year.

Payton has also hyped Nix up in the press, predicting that he'll be one of the NFL's top four or five quarterbacks over the next two years and become a "superstar" in the not-too-distant future. That's a lot of pressure put on Nix's shoulders that he didn't ask for, and it could take him a few games of playing 100% snaps to fully get that load balanced on his admittedly broad shoulders.

Should Broncos fans be worried? The answer is no.

If anything, I'm recalibrating my expectations for how quickly this offense will start out of the gates, but Payton's presence will once again be the deciding factor and help bring confidence and stability to proceedings this season. If Saturday's game were of the regular-season variety, and Nix and company played the whole thing, the Broncos would have defeated the Saints handily, so let's not get overly anxious about Nix.

Nix-to-Sutton Connection Fixin' to Explode

Aug 23, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) pushes away New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry (4) during the first half at Caesars Superdome. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Nix and Courtland Sutton established a strong chemistry last year. Sutton produced just the second 1,000-yard receiving campaign of his career, while Nix passed for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns, the most by a rookie in the NFL last year and in Broncos history.

However, that quarterback/receiver relationship we saw in 2024 may pale in comparison to what Nix and Sutton have cooking this season. Nix attempted 14 passes on Saturday, and half of them were targeted at Sutton.

Nix to Sutton. Let not your heart be troubled! pic.twitter.com/alFVnbD7wt

— Mile High Huddle (@MileHighHuddle) August 23, 2025

Sutton would finish with four catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, making three spectacular plays for his quarterback. One was a back-shoulder fade that moved the chains, the other was a 43-yard catch-and-run, and the other was his excellent touchdown grab, hauling in a pass that was thrown slightly behind him with a Saints defender draped over him.

On the heels of signing a four-year, $92 million contract extension, Sutton looked like a man possessed in New Orleans. Nix looked his way early and often, but especially when the chips were down. These two are going to make a lot of hay together in 2025.