After giving outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper a four-year contract extension earlier this month, the Denver Broncos will have another pass rusher due for a big raise before long.
Nik Bonitto, the team’s second-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2022, leads the team with seven sacks this fall and he’s on pace for the first double-digit sack season of his career after totaling eight sacks in 2023.
“He’s certainly made the leap,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said Monday. “He’s getting more snaps. He’s getting more pass-rush snaps. I think the key for Nik was playing the run and running at him. He’s at the right weight now.
“He’s a guy that plays with real good bend. He can bend and torque his body. He has a lot in the tank relative to his pass rush, and what he wants to do and how to set somebody up. He’s really helped us.”
Nik Bonitto rushing from these wide alignments with his elite get off is a cheat code. pic.twitter.com/Xf7pVTKKDg
— Frankie Abbott (@FrankiesFilm) November 11, 2024
Bonitto (7.0) and Cooper (6.5) have been a dynamic edge duo for Denver this season, and interior defensive linemen Zach Allen (5.0) and John Franklin-Myers (5.0) have boosted the unit’s totals. Through ten weeks, the Broncos rank second in the NFL with 35 sacks.
Bonitto has one more year left on his contract before becoming a free agent in 2025. He’s well on his way to getting a big extension like Cooper.
