"Bo didn't play like a rookie," Manning told the Denver Post. "… I believe experience is the best teacher, and he got great experience last year."

"Through those 60, or [however many] games it was, I learned a lot," Nix said. "I wouldn't be the player I am today without each and every one of them — the good and the bad. Even though I didn't finish here, I'll always be able to say, 'I graduated from Auburn.'"

"You can see there's nothing he won't do to give you everything you need to be successful," Head Coach Sean Payton said.

As the 2025 NFL season nears, a panel of ESPN analysts has tried to guess which players will define the season.

"Put this Broncos D-lineman among the most underrated players in the entire league," Patra wrote. "He's a pocket-collapser. A people mover. A body slammer. A QB tormentor."

"You get to help others impact others. That is what's really cool," Nix said. "When we all work together, good things happen."

"I think 'Huf' and Dre are two of the best at their positions across the league, and they're monstrous additions for us defensively," McGlinchey said. 

"That's why I play the game, is to win," Surtain said.

"He's a fighter," Head Coach Sean Payton said recently. "It's inspiring."

We're a quarter of the way through the 21st century, and ESPN honored the occasion by putting together an all-star lineup.

"You get in trouble as soon as you get complacent," Jones said of Denver's defense. "I think we are going to be as good as we want to be, and the sky is the limit."