Bo Nix’s response was worth its weight in gold. Or, at least, worth a heavy 501(c)3 donation.
One could physically see the lightbulb click over the second-year quarterback in mid-December, as CBS’ Tracy Wolfson held a microphone to his lips in front of millions of Americans. The Broncos had just downed the Packers 34-26, a game in which odds favored Green Bay on Denver’s home turf despite the Packers entering with a worse record. Nix had just played the best game of his short NFL career, throwing for 302 yards and four touchdowns. On the postgame broadcast, Wolfson prefaced a question by telling Nix “you were the underdogs.”
A young lifetime of media training, and princedom from Alabama to Oregon, kicked in.
“We’re the overdogs,” Nix grinned, his eyebrows twitching up.
The quote hit Broncos Twitter like wildfire. Mere hours later, with Nix’s name trending on Twitter for around four straight hours, the quarterback texted marketing rep Doug Young with an idea.
“We need to put Overdogs on a T-shirt and start selling those things for a good cause,” Nix wrote.
It was the 25-year-old Nix firing off something on the run again, just another Sunday. Two days later, Nix’s team connected a few channels quickly enough to launch a line of “Overdogs” merchandise on Nix’s website, promising all proceeds would go directly to longtime local nonprofit Denver Rescue Mission.
“I wish I could say this was like, some premeditated strategy,” Young chuckled, the chief marketing officer for agency QB Reps. “It would’ve made us look great.”
Two weeks later, Nix’s “Overdogs” gear — according to Athlete Studio CEO Nicholas Lemieux, the platform that organizes Nix’s merchandise — has raised over $25,000 and counting for the mission.
“We were floored,” said Brad Jessen, the Rescue Mission’s vice president of development. “We were absolutely thrilled. And I think it’s a pretty incredible boost for our staff and our staff morale to know that a player – right now, he’s the starting quarterback for the best team in the NFL … is also cheering for us and finding unique ways to support the work that we do at the mission.”
This was such an on-the-fly idea from Nix, in fact, that many members of the Rescue Mission had little idea this was happening until it was actually happening. When Nix posted the merchandise to his Twitter on Dec. 16, DVR public relations manager Stephen Hinkel forwarded the drop to Jessen.
“Do you know anything about this?” Hinkel asked Jessen.
He did not.
“In many ways — a gift to us from Bo and his team during the holiday season,” Jessen said. “Which is, it’s a critical month for us in terms of fundraising and just awareness of what’s happening in our community.”
Nix and his wife Izzy, though, were made aware of the foundation when they first arrived in Denver in 2024 and were introduced to a variety of potential philanthropic ventures around the Colorado area. The Denver Rescue Mission, a Christian organization founded in 1892 and dedicated to supporting, housing and rehabilitating the homeless in Denver, has been on the pair’s “radar” for a while, Young said. In fact, Young said the Nixes have plans to visit one of DRM’s shelters in spring 2026.
There was precedent for such a quick-turnaround venture, too, after Nix created a line of “Bolieve” merchandise earlier this year to support ALS United Rocky Mountain, an organization providing research and support for those living with ALS in Colorado. Lemieux said his team at Athlete Studio had already mocked up some more general sample designs that were ready within a few hours of Nix’s text to Young.
Homelessness and family homelessness, Young said, is one of Nix’s pinpointed causes for philanthropic emphasis.
“Denver’s home for them,” Young said. “And (Bo’s) lived in a lot of places, he’s called a lot of places home, and they really feel at home in Denver.
“I sometimes say to him, ‘Hey, you headed back home to Alabama?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, home is Denver.’ ”
Jessen said Denver Rescue Mission will use the proceeds for basic necessities, counseling and job coaching for people staying in the organization’s shelters, and also potentially put money toward a pilot program supporting families who are at imminent risk of eviction. Nix’s team has not yet actually collected the money — actually over $100,000 in gross income before product costs and the Athlete Studio’s fee — and distributed it to the DRM. That’ll come after the Broncos’ run is done.
“There’s plenty of time here with another regular-season game, hopefully a long run through playoffs,” Jessen said. “Hopefully this ‘Overdog’ concept will continue to last.”
