Nix, Surtain, Sutton among Broncos’ 2024 captains

4 September 2024, 19:05 published

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The QB is the first rookie since Floyd Little to be elected a Broncos team captain. Sutton is a captain for the fourth consecutive year.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Bo Nix has gone from end of the line with the other rookies on the Denver Broncos’ depth chart to the very top of Broncos’ history.

Named as the Broncos’ starting quarterback two weeks ago — even though he was still the No. 3 QB on Sean Payton’s depth chart — Nix on Wednesday was voted as one of one of the team’s six captains by the team’s players.

Nix is the first rookie to become a team captain since Floyd Little in 1967.

The other Broncos’ captains for the 2024 season: Cornerback Pat Surtain II, inside linebacker Alex Singleton, right guard Quinn Meinerz, receiver Courtland Sutton, and kicker Wil Lutz.

Sutton is a captain for a fourth consecutive year; the others are first-time captains.

Little, who later became known as “The Francise,” was the first of the Broncos’ first-round drafts pick to sign with Denver’s AFL team, as the previous first rounders all wound up signing with NFL teams. Little also was the first pick of new head coach Lou Saban, who was hired to much fanfare and a then-unprecedented 10-year contract to resurrect the moribund Broncos’ franchise.

It didn’t work out for Saban, who never posted a winning record in his five seasons in Denver, but it did for Little who was elected as a team captain in each of his 9 seasons with the Broncos and was eventually elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Ordinarily, it’s difficult for a rookie to become a team captain. Rookies are to be deferential to veterans and educated by them. How does this work? Where do we go? Even John Elway was not a Broncos’ captain during his rookie year in 1983, a season when Denver was laden with the veteran likes of Bill Bryan, Paul Howard and Steve Watson on offense, and most of the remaining Orange Crush members like Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Louis Wright, Barney Chavous, Rubin Carter and Steve Foley on defense.

Nix, though, is no ordinary rookie. Having played five years of college at two major programs – Auburn and Oregon – he is older than most rookies at 24 years old. He also is among the most experienced as he started an NCAA record 61 college games at quarterback.

“He’s definitely a lot further along than I’ve seen of rookie quarterbacks in the past,’’ said Broncos receiver Josh Reynolds of Nix this week. “He carries himself in the same way, off the field as well. I think he’s got a great mindset coming into this thing. He doesn’t have real big highs, he doesn’t have real big lows. He’s just even-keel and that’s all you can look for in a quarterback.”