Work on a Nik Bonitto extension has taken place all through the offseason. A deal has now been struck between the Broncos and the ascending cross rusher.
Bonitto agreed to a four-year extension on Thursday, as first reported by NFL insider Jordan Schultz. The pact has a most worth of $120M and incorporates $70M assured. As soon as the deal is signed, Bonitto will probably be on the books via 2029. An announcement from his company notes this pact has a base worth of $106M (h/t Tom Pelissero of NFL Network).
Consequently, this newest high-profile piece of Broncos enterprise carries a median annual worth of $26.5M. That determine ranks tenth amongst edge rushers, a sign of the most important surge that place’s market has witnessed over the course of the offseason. If Bonitto maxes out the worth of this pact, he’ll change into the seventh cross rusher to succeed in $30M in annual compensation.
In Could, it turned identified that talks on a long-term pact were taking place on this case. Since then, Bonitto has more and more emerged as a precedence for Denver, a group that additionally labored out new offers for receiver Courtland Sutton and defensive lineman Zach Allen in 2025. The latter’s pact is price $102M in base worth. As such, Bonitto now holds the title because the Broncos’ highest-paid participant for the approaching season and the highest earner for defenders in franchise historical past.
Beginning solely 5 video games throughout his first two Denver seasons, Bonitto confirmed loads of potential with eight sacks in 2023. The 25-year-old took one other step ahead final season, dealing with a first-team workload and totaling 13.5 sacks. That manufacturing resulted in a second-team All-Professional nod together with a Professional Bowl invitation and upped the worth of this long-discussed extension. Denver dealt away Baron Browning on the 2024 commerce deadline shortly after understanding a brand new cope with Jonathon Cooper. These transactions confirmed {that a} Cooper-Bonitto pairing was seen as the inspiration of the group’s cross rush for years to come back.
Bonitto recently expressed optimism about an extension being labored out, with the qualifier that an settlement didn’t essentially must be in place earlier than the beginning of the common season. Nonetheless, the Broncos have operated on an identical timeline to the Patrick Surtain negotiations from final summer time and finalized a pact days earlier than Week 1. One other member of the group’s core is thus within the fold for the foreseeable future.
The Broncos’ standout 2024 protection contained a league-high six gamers with at the least 5 sacks. Bonitto led the best way in that regard, ending third within the NFL. Expectations for continued high-end manufacturing will probably be current all through the size of this pact, particularly given his age. The Oklahoma product has amassed 60 quarterback pressures over the previous two years, and remaining one of many league’s most disruptive edge rushers would enable for Denver’s protection to proceed working at a excessive stage.
Broncos GM George Paton has been busy retaining several core players because the halfway level of final season. The nucleus of a group that reached the postseason in 2024 is even additional cemented, given Thursday’s information, and Bonitto will look to assist lead his group a step additional over the approaching months together with his long-term future secured.
