Sean Payton explains how Bo Nix displayed the most important trait for a quarterback in the Denver Broncos' first preseason game

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sean Payton isn’t quite ready to name Bo Nix the Denver Broncos‘ starting quarterback.

But after having 72 hours to process Nix’s first preseason film, it’s clear Denver’s head coach is thrilled with what he’s seen out of his first-round quarterback.

“His decision making was good,” Payton said, when asked after Wednesday’s training camp practice what stood out about Nix’s film from the first preseason game. “I felt, he was comfortable in the pocket. Thought his locations were good.”

In Nix’s first NFL action on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, he went 15-for-21 for 125 passing yards with one touchdown and a passer rating of 102.3.

For a rookie’s first NFL action, that’s an impressive stat line. But that wasn’t the thing that impressed Payton the most.

“The No. 1 thing to do at quarterback is lead your team [to points]. We scored,” Payton added. “I liked the production with his group while he was in there and ultimately that’s their job.”

Nix did score. A lot. While he only had one passing touchdown on the day, he led his offense to four scoring drives of his five opportunities. The one drive that didn’t end in a score was completely out of Nix’s control as Lucas Krull fumbled the ball.

In just over one quarter of football, Nix led his offense to 20 points. Last year, 10 teams in the NFL didn’t average 20 points a game.

Of course, it’s preseason and Nix was facing many of the Colts backups, but, as Payton pointed out, he did the most important job that a quarterback is tasked with.

“The whole group, as a whole and I’m talking about the three of them, we didn’t have any sacks,” Payton said about Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson. “There were a lot of positives.”

There was one area Payton pointed to that Nix could work on.

“There’s two plays where I think he can set his feet and he’s kind of backing up a little,” the head coach said. “We can clean that up.”

Heading into the team’s second preseason game, Nix will receive a majority of the starting reps, Payton revealed on Wednesday, as he prepares to start his first game in the NFL.

“It kind of falls in line with what we’ve been doing all of camp. In other words, last week, ‘Stiddy’ took the week’s worth of ones and then into the game. Kind of following that same process that we’ve done all the way up until now,” Payton said, indicating Nix will receive the majority of reps with the first-team offense this week in practice. “All three of these guys are going to get a ton of work this week and a lot of work against Green Bay.”

Payton told Kay Adams on the Up & Adams Show that he’s “getting close” to naming a starting quarterback. All signs point to that being Nix, who is quickly proving to Payton that the team made the right decision to use their first-round draft pick on him.