An inside look at Bo Nix’s rookie initiation with the Denver Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It appears Bo Nix has it all.

The first-round pick was identified by Sean Payton to be the Denver Broncos‘ next great franchise quarterback. After signing a four-year, $18.6 million contract with a signing bonus just north of $10 million, he and his wife, Izzy, bought a $4 million home in The Village at Castle Pines.

What more could Bo want?

Well, there might be only one thing he wants to nix out of his life.

His current title of rookie.

“I make sure he gets his rookie duties,” sixth-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham said with a smile after Wednesday’s practice, minutes after the rookie quarterback carried the veteran’s helmet and pads off the practice field.

“He has to carry our pads, that’s mandatory,” Stidham added.

The life of an NFL player is glamorous. The life of a rookie is making sure the veteran players in your position group have a glamorous life.

“Sometimes if I forget something in my locker, I’ll make him go get it,” Stidham said, as he racked his brain for the numerous duties Nix has being a rookie. “He has to do certain stuff for sure.”

Back in the day, this used to be called hazing, where rookies really went through it. In today’s NFL, it’s evolved, where ‘chores’ might be a better word to describe what rookies go through their first year in the league.

“I had a rookie haircut from Tom [Brady] my rookie year,” Stidham said, referencing his 2019 rookie season with the New England Patriots. “I think that’s against the rules nowadays.”

Bo’s hair is safe.

But don’t get it wrong, the veteran players don’t take it easy on the rookies.

“Pretty much anything that goes wrong, I just blame him,” Stidham said with a big smile.

The good thing for Nix is he’s not an offensive lineman. In years past, rookie offensive lineman had to provide the occasional snack, or meal, for a room full of 300-pound men.

That could include bringing donuts to start a day or catering gourmet hot dogs and burgers from the nearby Dog Haus. Either way, the orders would feed a small village. All on the rookies dime.

“We’re not much of a snacking group, so we don’t make him get snacks or anything,” Stidham said, letting Nix off the hook for the smaller meals.

But Stidham didn’t let him off the hook for every meal.

If the rookie pans out anywhere close to what Payton thinks of him, Nix won’t have to pay for another drink in his life in Denver. After his rookie dinner, that is.

“At whatever point we decide to do his rookie dinner, I’ll be getting a nice bottle of wine or something that he’s going to be paying for,” Stidham said, trying to think of the most expensive bottle of wine at a restaurant. “I’ll make sure that’s a really, really nice dinner and I’ll be very, very happy and not hungry so it’ll be great.”

A typical rookie dinner consists of an entire position group going to a nice restaurant in town. The catch is, the rookie, or rookies, in that position group pick up the bill. The veteran players, as Stidham was indicating, don’t hold back in their extravagant orders.

The tab isn’t cheap.

But in this case, Stidham doesn’t feel bad for Bo.

“Especially being a first-round pick. I actually make fun of him and Zach [Wilson] all the time because in their rookie contracts, they’ve made more money than I have in my entire career at this point,” Stidham said laughing. “So I’m like, ‘You two are not off the hook.’ I let them have it for sure.”

Every single penny of Nix’s $18.6 million rookie contract is guaranteed, including his $10 million signing bonus. Wilson has already racked up $29.7 million in his three-year career.

Stidham, on the other hand, has made a total of $7.7 million in his five years in the NFL. Certainly an incredible amount of money to have made at just 27 years old, but a far cry from the two younger quarterbacks in his room.

Regardless of the big signing bonus in his bank account, Nix isn’t always receptive to the rookie ‘chores.’

“Whether or not if he is or if he isn’t, he doesn’t really have a choice,” Stidham said. “Sometimes he’ll kind of bicker a little bit back at me and I’m like, Bo, we’ve literally all done this before.'”

The 24-year-old rookie isn’t used to his new role. As a freshman in high school, Nix started for his varsity football team. Ever since then, when he’s been healthy, he’s not only been his team’s starting quarterback, but the man in the quarterback room and on the team.

While he might still end up being the Broncos’ Week 1 starting quarterback, only time will shed his rookie title.

Until then, he’ll be carrying Wilson’s pads, fetching things from Stidham’s locker and putting down his credit card at a top-notch steakhouse in Denver.