In the mid-1950s, Pablo Picasso stood and surveyed a blank piece of paper. He drew a human face, fused with a bird. It was ugly. But this moment, documented in a 1956 film titled “The Mystery of Picasso,” has gone viral many times in today’s digital age for its unfiltered look at a savant’s conviction — no wasted strokes, no tremble in his fingers, a work completed in less than a minute.
This is how Drew Brees operated with Sean Payton, Luke McCown remembered, back in their heyday in New Orleans.
“The way that Sean called plays,” McCown recalled, “just made sense to Drew. I think it’s kinda like when Picasso looks at a blank canvas, and sees his painting already in it. And then he just — he takes his brush and starts moving it along the canvas, and all the movements just make sense to him, and out comes this grand painting, right?”
Five years after Brees retired and Payton pivoted from the only quarterback artist he’s ever had, Bo Nix leans against the wall of the Broncos’ practice facility in December. The 25-year-old Bronco is in the middle of a metamorphosis, shedding an exoskeleton that isn’t his. Nix has drawn widespread comparisons to Brees since Payton hand-picked him in the 2024 NFL Draft, and the parallels have only grown. Gameday eye black. Blue-eyed intensity.
“The way (Bo) operates from huddle to the line of scrimmage,” McCown said, “is eerily similar.”
There against the wall, Nix ponders a question: Have you ever felt like Sean was trying to fit you into the Drew mold?
“I think — he’s had his system, and he’s got his offense,” Nix told The Post. “And he drafted me to come fit that offense. And I give credit, he’s done his best to do things that I like, and he’s done his best to incorporate things that I like, some things that I did in college.
“I would say, just in two years, we’ve changed,” Nix continued, voice rising. “And our offense has adapted. And now, it’s probably not where either of us still want it to be, because we’re still growing. But that’s why we’ve got time, in the future.”
Nix and Payton have yet to recreate Picasso, as their second year in Denver winds down and ratchets up. Sometimes they stick to paint-by-numbers. Sometimes Nix takes his brushstrokes to an entirely new canvas. But their shared fire and evolution have often led to brilliant messes, vivid Jackson Pollock splashes, finding enough rhythm to bring the Broncos two games from a Super Bowl.
Both sense this is just the beginning. In mid-December, Payton compared his and Nix’s partnership to a half-marathon he ran in 2012: they’re on mile four of 13.1 total, when staffers hand out refreshments. “Taking the Gatorade,” Payton said. Nix speaks of their relationship in the future tense, and told The Post he feels they have “many years left” together.
“I know he’s got more left in his tank,” Nix said. “And for me, I would love to be here as long as possible. So for him to be my head coach for as much time as I can get, that’d be awesome for me.”
For now, they are lodged in the present, and windows like this don’t come around often. Saturday’s AFC divisional-round rematch with the Bills is the culmination of two years of feeling each other out, of shared trust built by similar minds from different generations who are unafraid to challenge each other.
Payton wants to give full rein to his quarterbacks. But only if he truly feels they can own it. Brees owned it. Nix is getting there. It is the key to Saturday’s matchup against a bristling Buffalo secondary, and the key to years to come in Denver.
“As you earn Sean’s respect, you have to know that he’s going to pull away a little bit and let you be your person,” left tackle Garett Bolles told The Post, on Nix and Payton’s relationship. “And he wasn’t going to do that right away.
“But to see that, and to see it happening, is the reason we’re here — where we’re at today.”
Quarterback Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos rolls out of the pocket during a 34-26 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)…
Patrick Sean Payton was born on Dec. 29, 1963, in San Mateo, California, bounced around for a couple of years as a pro quarterback, became a Super-Bowl-winning head coach, and is still driven by the fear of failure at 62 years old.
“Part of him,” former Saints receiver Robert Meachem reflected on Payton, “feels like he’s still out there, playing.”
He is “maniacal” — self-described — about details. Quotes from mentor Bill Parcells and friend Avery Johnson hang in practice-facility hallways. Weekly offensive-staff meetings run into the wee morning hours. Mountain Dew-fueled film study sessions rewind without interruption.
Were former Saints tackle Jermon Bushrod’s seven years playing for Payton easy?
“No,” Bushrod said. “But it was worth it.”
Payton found shared mania in Brees. Through 15 years of record-breaking passing numbers, they were sparring partners. Brees would come to the facility in the early years at 5:30 a.m., Meachem recalled. Payton would come in at 5:15. If Payton ever left early, Brees would try and stay later. During games, former Saints linebacker Scott Shanle recalled, Brees would sometimes get fed up and bark back at Payton’s constant chatter in his helmet: “I got it!”
Several years into their time in New Orleans, after one particularly rough offensive sequence, Payton gave the signal to hit the horn to move on to the next period.
Brees turned, as McCown recalled, and yelled at Payton. “No! No! We’re doing it again.”
“The hush that came over the indoor facility,” McCown remembered, “was deafening.”
They did it again.
“I don’t think the dust-ups, necessarily, are a pissing contest,” McCown said. “It’s not trying to see who the big dog is. It’s just about ownership.”
Brees had full ownership within a few years. They clicked into full form in a 45-27 win over the Lions in Week 1 in 2009, when Brees threw six touchdowns and Payton “dropped his nuts,” Meachem put it. Brees gained the full and rare authority to organize pre-snap protections. Either one of the QB or Payton could as much as scratch their arms at one another, Meachem recalled, and understand it meant a specific call.
NEW ORLEANS, LA - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints speaks with Drew Brees during the fourth quarter of a game against the Detroit Lions at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on December 21, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)The arm-scratch usually meant “all go” — four vertical routes.
Payton’s playbook is not for the faint of heart, as McCown said. He is a micromanager in most every sense. Except for the quarterbacks he trusts. He wants to trust his QBs, McCown said.
They just have to be right. And they have to have some skin.
“For Sean, I think he’s gotta see a little bit of himself in you,” McCown said. “I think that when he looks at a quarterback, he’s gotta be able to look at him and go, ‘Man, that’s exactly what I would’ve done. That’s exactly where I would’ve thrown it.'”
Brees retired in 2020 as second all-time in NFL history in passing yards. Payton floated to 9-8 for one more season in 2021 with a four-man combination of Jameis Winston, Trevor Siemian, Taysom Hill and Ian Book in New Orleans. In 2023, he came out of retirement and arrived in Denver to work with fading superstar Russell Wilson.
Shanle was never sure that was going to work. Payton gave Brees “crap” in New Orleans and little preferential treatment in the early years, Shanle said. Wilson made waves for having his own office in the Broncos’ facility in his first year in Denver in 2022. And his own entourage.
Within one year, Payton benched Wilson and his near-$50 million annual salary amid mediocre offensive production. The rest is recent history.
Denver Broncos Head coach Sean Payton, left, talks with Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson (3) during the second half at Empower Field at Mile High on October 29, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs 24 to 9 during week 8 of the NFL regular season. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)“No disrespect to Russell,” Meachem said. “But Russell was too quiet, as a leader, for Sean.”
“Sean wanted you to challenge him at times,” Meachem continued a few words later. “Like, he might call a play just to see if you’re going to be like, ‘No! I’m not calling that, cause it ain’t gonna work.’ Just a little bit of back-and-forth – he needed that sometimes.”
Then came April 2024, when Payton keyed in on an Auburn and Oregon quarterback who former Auburn OC Chad Morris called “the most fierce competitor I’ve ever been around.”
After the Broncos took Nix with the 12th overall pick, McCown — who does his own analysis on QB draft classes — shot Payton a text.
“I was like, ‘I knew it. I saw that one coming a mile away’ — I said, ‘Man, he’s going to be great for y’all,'” McCown recalled.
“And he hit me right back. He’s like, ‘Yep, this guy’s gonna be different.’”
…
Quarterback Bo Nix (10) of the Oregon Ducks walks to the sidelines during the second half of a game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium on Nov. 18, 2023 in Tempe, Arizona. The Ducks defeated the Sun Devils 49-13. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Bo Chapman Nix was born on Feb. 25, 2000 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, grew up a coach’s son, took his bumps at Auburn and exploded at Oregon, and is still driven by the fear of failure at 25 years old.
The Nix family does not take losses easily, as Nix’s adopted brother and former high school teammate Tez Johnson said. Loss is an admission of defeat. An admission that someone is better than them. It showed up in games of Monopoly. It showed up in football. Patrick Nix, who coached Nix throughout his high school career in Alabama, imprinted that in his sons.
Nix was not very patient back then. If any drive in high school ball ended in a punt, Nix recalled in early November, it felt like “the end of the world.”
“I think that’s when I noticed, like, ‘Hey, this game, he’s not taking it lightly,'” Johnson, now a rookie receiver for the Buccaneers, told The Post. “I had to be on the same page. Because if I wasn’t, you’re going to get left behind.”
Nix wears blue slides to the podium for his Wednesday pressers and has the general public demeanor and intonation of a surfer bro from Southern California. Shoulderpads bring something different. Outside Nix’s circle, McCown sees a quarterback who wants operational control. Inside Nix’s circle, longtime quarterback trainer David Morris sees a quarterback raised to expect excellence of himself — and everyone around him.
“You better be ready,” Morris told The Post, “when you’re coaching Bo.”
On flights after away games, messages from Nix sometimes hit former Oregon receivers coach Junior Adams’ phone, as soon as the plane’s WiFi connects: What did he think about switching personnel around the next week? In Week 1 this season, the whites of Nix’s eyes popped at tight end Lucas Krull, after a third-down incompletion when Krull didn’t sit in a spot against a zone. He often claps his hands at receivers after miscommunications. Any perceived failure brings fire.
Such it was in Week 5 of Nix’s rookie year, when he checked out of a play in a win over the Raiders and a heated sideline exchange between him and Payton blew up. Several Broncos players reflected that it wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen on practice fields.
Left tackle Garett Bolles grinned, recalling what he thought in that moment: Let’s freakin’ go.
“Sean wants that,” Bolles said. “He wants his players to be like, ‘Nah, freak you. This is what I saw.’”
Few know that better than kicker Wil Lutz, who’s been Payton’s man of choice since 2016 in one of the most pressure-laden jobs in sports. In November, as Lutz trotted out for the game-winning field goal against the Houston Texans, Payton walked out and barked “right through” at Lutz. And smiled.
“It’s the same thing with how Drew operated with Sean, and how Sean knows his athlete,” Lutz said. “He knows his quarterback. He knows what he can handle.”
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos speaks to Bo Nix (10) after a failed third-down conversion during the third quarter at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)At Oregon, staffers used to wonder why Nix would check out of a play-call at the line of scrimmage — “and then he checks it, and it’s a touchdown,” as Adams chuckled to The Post in May. After that Raiders win, Payton joked that the Nix still had a “little bit of Ferris Bueller” in him that needed eliminating. The coach’s tune has changed notably in 2025. At various points throughout this 14-3 season, Payton has told reporters he and staff are careful not to overcoach Nix on a variety of topics: his deep ball, his footwork, his off-schedule play.
“We’re not going to have a ‘growth meter’ each week in Year 2, all right?” Payton said in September.
Meachem watches most Broncos games and notes that he never sees Payton come over to light into his young quarterback after errors. That’s agency. That applied to Brees.
“Sean wanted Drew to be comfortable,” Meachem said. “Everybody else didn’t have to be comfortable. But Drew had to be comfortable.”
Payton, now, has adjusted over the course of two years to his next franchise face. When Nix first arrived in Denver last year, as ex-Saint and current Bronco Adam Trautman recalled, the staff tried to identify what the Oregon product was best at that Payton had run for years with Brees. Payton had to “start from the basics” with him, Nix recalled, in building from an already hefty foundation of 61 collegiate games.
Payton met him where he was, Nix said. And is now pushing him further.
“I give him credit, he’s done his best to really put me in a spot to succeed,” Nix told The Post in December. “And I know there’s not a bigger fan in the building than him.”
…
Sam Ehlinger arrived in Denver in March and has refused to leave since. The Broncos’ QB3 had multiple offers to sign to another team’s active roster after cutdowns in August. He declined. He had an offer to sign with Indianapolis and compete for a starting job in early December. He declined. In part, this was because he wanted to continue ties with Davis Webb, Denver’s fast-rising passing-game coordinator.
It was also because Payton has “built an organization around the quarterback,” Ehlinger told The Denver Post, and calls games “the way the quarterback wants to see it.”
Ehlinger was referring to the general position. He was also referring specifically to Nix.
“I think,” Ehlinger said, “it’s all about Bo.”
Payton’s roster in Denver is still tailored to his liking, with big-bodied blocking receivers and longtime allies like Trautman and Lil’Jordan Humphrey surrounding Nix. His offensive approach, though, has been a give-and-take. After Denver went conservative — 30 passing attempts for Nix — in an ugly 13-11 win over the Jets in October, Nix said he was “just executing the plays that were called and wasn’t necessarily getting a whole lot of action.”
Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos fires a pass during the fourth quarter of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 34-20 win at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, December 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)Nix ended the 2025 season leading the NFL in pass attempts (612), though. Two days after Nix threw for a career-high 352 yards in a Week 16 loss to the Jaguars, the quarterback told reporters Payton has learned to put him in more spots to “throw it early and be aggressive early.”
“I’m sure he wanted to take care of me early (in my career), and make sure that we followed a good pace,” Nix said then. “But now I feel like he’s getting comfortable calling it, getting to what I like, and it’s only going to continue getting better and better.”
There are similarities, certainly, in how Nix and Brees thrive. Morris, who’s worked with Nix since he was at Auburn, has told Nix he thinks he finds his best rhythm when taking a five-step drop from the shotgun — the same looks Brees thrived on in New Orleans. The former Saints great, too, liked getting to the line of scrimmage early to survey defenses; Brees and Payton used to have arguments over getting plays in quicker, Meachem recalled.
Denver has brought more of the same, as Nix has signaled to the sideline for faster calls in multiple games this season and barked at Payton to “wake up!” in a Week 18 win over the Chargers.
Payton’s offense, though, has also shifted towards more bootlegs in the second half of 2025 to get Nix making controlled decisions on the run. It’s a marriage of Nix’s best traits, in his mobility and arm strength when firing on the move. It’s also a marriage of Payton’s work with dual-threat gadget extraordinaire Taysom Hill in his later days in New Orleans, McCown said.
“He can do those with Bo — he feels like he can, anyways,” McCown said. “And so, you see a little bit of that, like, ‘Man, that was a play-call he would’ve called when Taysom Hill was in the game.’”
Around mid-November’s bye week, Nix told Neill he felt he was seeing the game well. The best month-long stretch of his career followed, coinciding with an increase in snaps from under center. Nix quelled doubt from a rocky start with a 295-yard game in that Kansas City win, and detonated for four touchdowns against the Packers three weeks later. He finished eighth in the NFL in passing yards in his second season, with 3,931.
Bo Nix (10) and head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos work side by side during practice at the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Training Ground in Enfield, England on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)“I appreciate Coach,” Nix told reporters in December, “for letting me be my authentic self. I appreciate him for letting me be competitive, and he hasn’t taken that fire away from me.”
At some point this season — Nix can’t recall the exact date — he was picking Payton’s brain on his career. They discussed where Payton started, an assistant in the college world. They discussed how Payton climbed the ladder. And Nix asked Payton: “How many years you got left in you?”
“I said, ‘Shoot, Bo, I feel great,'” Payton told reporters in December. “Six, seven, eight? I don’t know.”
After another excruciating win in Las Vegas in early December, Payton found Nix and changed his answer.
“Look,” Payton recalled joking. “At this rate, two.”
Wins have rarely come easy in 2025. Offense hasn’t always come easy. Both know they have time left, beyond Saturday. Both want more time.
“We’re both fighting for more, and fighting for what this offense could really be,” Nix tells The Post. “And whether that’s me fitting the system, or whether that’s him doing some things that I like, we’re going to find a good mesh. And we’re going to figure out a way to win as many games as possible.”
Sometimes, they might fight each other. It’s what Payton wants.
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