Ed McCaffrey says the Denver Broncos “hit it out of the park” with their Bo Nix pick last year.
Nix had a sensational rookie season while leading the Broncos to their first playoff appearance and 10-win season since 2015. The 12th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft threw for 29 touchdown passes without a dominant receiving threat — second-highest total by a rookie in NFL history — and restored hope in a franchise that has been through a rough patch over the past decade.
McCaffrey, who won two Super Bowls with the Broncos and was a Pro Bowler in 1998, is extremely high on Nix as he prepares for his second season.
“Sean Payton, he’s all business,” says McCaffrey in a one-on-one interview. “The guy’s a serious guy, he’s a serious coach. He loves the game and he wants to win, and he’s very honest about his intentions. They really hit it out of the park with Bo Nix last year. They got the quarterback of the future and the defense was phenomenal.”
The Broncos obviously exceeded expectations with their season last year. They were expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL last year, especially considering they were coming off of the failed Russell Wilson experiment, a transaction that cost them $85 million in dead cap charges following his release. That’s the largest dead cap hit charge in NFL history.
However, Nix and head coach Sean Payton made Broncos fans and observers forget really quickly about that with a 10-7 season.
The next step for the Broncos is taking that leap from being a playoff team into an elite one. When not factoring in their Week 18 win over the Kansas City Chiefs — most of their starters sat that game — the Broncos went 1-5 against playoff teams. Denver hopes to reverse that trend after having a notable offseason, adding former San Francisco 49ers starters Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga along with two-time Pro Bowl tight end Evan Engram.
McCaffrey stresses that the offense needs to be a little more “explosive” and says if they can score three more points per game, they’re going to be “contenders.”
“Offensively, if they can pick it up a little bit, score another three points a game with that defense they have, they’re going to be contenders,” says McCaffrey. “They’re going to be contenders. I like the direction.”
The Broncos surprisingly went with a cornerback in Jahdae Barron with their first-round pick. Many mock drafts had them pegged as going with a wide receiver, tight end or running back to boost their offense.
McCaffrey also thought they were going to go with an offensive playmaker with the No. 20 overall pick. The Broncos ended up selecting UCF running back RJ Harvey with their second-round pick.
“I did think they’re going to take a playmaker in the first round,” says McCaffrey. “I thought they’d add a receiver, running back. They went with the DB in the draft, you got to take best player available if that’s what they had on their board. They picked up a running back later, so we’ll see how they use them.”
When asked who among the Broncos’ seven draft picks will make the biggest immediate impact, McCaffrey wants to take a “wait-and-see” approach, wanting to watch them in training camp before coming to a conclusion.
“I like to watch them in training camp first,” says McCaffrey. “It’s one thing to watch the college film. It’s another to watch them in the all-star games. But for me, training camp is very telling. I’ll go out to the practices. I’ll watch them, size them up next to the guys on their team, see how they move, see how quickly they pick up the offense or defensive scheme, then I’ll make my analysis. A little too early for me, but as soon as I watch a couple weeks of practice, I’ll have a good feeling for who’s going to contribute.”
Although he’s not sure who will emerge as the next “Bo Nix” from the rookie class, McCaffrey is confident that the Broncos can compete with the elite teams, mentioning how well they play against the Kansas City Chiefs. Denver nearly handed Kansas City their first loss in a Week 10 meeting before a blocked game-winning field goal cost them.
“They’re going to compete right away,” says McCaffrey. “They played the Chiefs well. They played them tough the last couple of years, even during the regular season. With a great defense, the offense can pick it up a little bit and move the ball against a good Kansas City Chiefs defense. They’re going to be in those games. They match up well against them.”
Ed McCaffrey Talks ‘McCaffrey Brands’ Releasing Products Nationally
While McCaffrey is certainly known for his notable 13-year NFL career — he won three Super Bowls — and being the father of Christian McCaffrey and Luke McCaffrey, he’s keeping busy during his post-playing career. McCaffrey has business called “McCaffrey Brands” which specializes in great tasting and healthy food products.
The brand is starting to expand with its first national chain deal with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which will see the release of McCaffrey Brands’ Protein Bites in 176 of their stores. McCaffrey says his favorite product from the brand is the chocolate chip cookie dough and the birthday cake from the protein bites release.
“We’re really excited that they’re our first national retailer,” says McCaffrey. “We’ll be in Kroger stores, Safeway, Albertsons and City Markets. We’re in negotiations with a lot of national retailers. We’re going to be in stores all over the place. We’re going to be on Amazon eventually.”
While the McCaffrey Brands products are only available through the company’s official website and Dick’s Sporting Goods at the moment, McCaffrey says they’ll be expanding more nationally by the start of 2026.
“Soon they will be everywhere, and we’re going to expand our line as well and have other ingredient decks and have other products,” says McCaffrey. “We’re so excited about it. This is really what I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into. I’m so happy to have Lisa, my wife and our four boys behind our McCaffrey brands products as well.”
McCaffrey has been in the food product business since 1998 when he released his first product, the spicy brown mustard before releasing his horseradish sauce. The Broncos great stresses one of the keys to his product is making sure that its not only a “healthy food product,” but also one that tastes good.
“We wouldn’t put our name on the bag if I didn’t think it tasted great, because I’ve tried every healthy food product in the world, and a lot of them are not very good,” says McCaffrey. “Some of them are okay, but some of them are not okay. We eat healthy snacks. We really created something that we wanted for ourselves, that we think other people will like.”
While McCaffrey will continue to look to create new products and ingredient decks, he says the long-term objective is not just to expand nationally by releasing great tasting products, but also to be in every sports team’s locker room and in fitness centers.
“The thing we’re really proud about right now is we’re coming out with our 10-gram protein pack for protein bites, which will be right next to the protein bars that you see in the stores,” says McCaffrey. “We think our 10-gram protein pack will be perfect for athletes. It’ll be in fitness centers, hopefully it’ll be in every professional sports team’s locker room, in their cafeterias, which will give them something they can eat between meetings, before and after practice. It’s a perfect pregame, halftime, postgame snack, or just between lunch and dinner for anybody.”
