Broncos Urged to Pay Up for ‘Breakout’ Playmaker With Rising Stock

The Denver Broncos have let several veteran players linger with key decisions looming, including 2024 Pro Bowler and All-Pro Second Team outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.

Bonitto led the Broncos’ franchise record-setting and NFL-leading effort with 13.5 sacks. That was the third most in the league during the 2024 regular season. It was his second straight season with a significant leap in production.

It would behoove the Broncos to get a deal done before he makes it three seasons in a row.

“Bonitto raised his stock with a breakout 2024 Pro Bowl campaign, logging 48 tackles, 16 for loss, 13.5 sacks and 36 pressures,” Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton wrote on June 21. “He’s half of Denver’s up-and-coming pass-rushing tandem, lining up opposite Jonathon Cooper on the edge, but the front office should prioritize his contract. Cooper signed a multiyear extension in November. It’s Bonitto’s turn for a salary bump. “

Cooper, 27, recorded 10.5 sacks in 2024, and he received a four-year, $54 million extension in November 2024.

Bonitto’s payday figures to have the Broncos reaching deeper into their pockets.

Nik Bonitto Heading for ‘Massive Contract Extension’

Bonitto was a second-round pick by the Broncos in 2022. He went from 1.5 sacks as a rookie to 8.0 sacks in 2023 and his breakout (so far) in 2024.

The Athletic’s Nick Kosmider suspects Bonitto is “in line for a massive contract extension.”

“His 21 1/2 takedowns since the start of the 2023 season rank 10th in that span,” Kosmider wrote on June 19, noting Bonitto turns 26 in September. He only became a full-time starter about a month into last season. He is an ascending player who has unique traits and plays a premium position, and he is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Those are the kind of players who get paid.

“Bonitto is sitting in a position to earn an extension worth more than $20 million annually. The Broncos got two similar contracts done just before the start of the 2024 season when they extended Quinn Meinerz (four years, $72 million) and cornerback Pat Surtain II (four years, $96 million). That could very well be the timeline the Broncos are looking at with Bonitto.”

Bonitto is joined by several prominent Broncos in need of contracts, including fellow defensive starters John Franklin-Myers and Zach Allen.

However, Bonitto’s position and age could make him the priority, as Moton suggested.

Broncos GM George Paton’s Comments About Nik Bonitto Loom Large

Broncos general manager George Paton praised Bonitto in comments made during the annual owners meeting.

“You look at the day-to-day, you look at the practice, and you look at the skill set. Is there one trait? What’s the dominant trait? Nik Bonitto, man, we knew he had a dominant trait. When was it going to click? When was the light going to turn on? And so, you can see it in practice. You can see it by how, again, day-to-day, how they are in the weight room, in the conditioning drills,” Paton told reporters in March.

“Nik, man, he always worked hard. You just – you felt like it would come, and he got his opportunity. And, shoot, we traded a good player away in Baron Browning because we could see Nik in practice, what he was doing. And so, you just look for those little traits, and you just – it’s hard to give up on a player like that.”

Paton also expressed a desire to re-sign Bonitto during his season-ending press conference; however, he had no timeline for when.

Kosmider warned about the “downside” of Paton and the Broncos waiting to get a deal done with Bonitto.

“A quick accumulation of sacks at the start of season could further drive up his asking price — and it would be counter to how the Broncos have recently done business with their young premium position players,” Kosmider wrote. “Though the status of the negotiations has been kept quiet by both sides, it’s fair to assume talks will heat up as training camp approaches based on Denver’s recent financial maneuverings.”