Broncos' Nik Bonitto aware of lucrative pass-rusher market, but focus is on ‘upping the ante'

New York Times

6 days ago

LITTLETON, Colo. — A subtle reminder of his growing fame found Nik Bonitto this summer inside a mall in South Florida.
After another muggy offseason workout near Miami, the newly minted Pro Bowl and All-Pro outside linebacker for the Denver Broncos found himself being spotted and called to as he escaped into the air conditioning of a vast shopping plaza.
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'I was surprised just how many people recognized me,' Bonitto said Sunday as he prepared to host his first youth football camp in Denver, at Columbine High. 'In Denver, I kind of expect it a little bit. But in Florida, I'm like, 'Wow, that's pretty cool.' So, yeah, it's kind of changed a little bit, but my main focus is just football.'
As he enters his fourth NFL season, Bonitto could soon experience a more bountiful reminder of how quickly his standing among the league's pass rushers has changed. The 25-year-old is coming off a season in which he produced 13 1/2 sacks — only Trey Hendrickson and Myles Garrett had more — scored two touchdowns and forced two fumbles. His breakout campaign earned him his first Pro Bowl berth and a second-team All-Pro berth. It also put him in line for a potential massive contract extension as the 2022 second-round pick enters the final season of his rookie contract.
'Those types of talks are happening right now,' Bonitto said of negotiations between his camp and the Broncos. 'I just kind of keep that with my agent and let him handle that. My focus right now is just winning and trying to get a championship. There's no time period. I know these things can happen tomorrow or happen months from now, so I just kind of take it day by day and keep the focus on football.'
That doesn't mean Bonitto is unaware of the lucrative landscape he occupies. This offseason has been a fruitful one for elite pass rushers. Minutes before Bonitto arrived at his camp, where he took pictures with about 200 youth participants and then helped guide them through drills, Kansas City Chiefs pass rusher George Karlaftis agreed to a four-year, $93 million contract extension with the team, The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported. Earlier this offseason, Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby signed an extension that averages $35.5 million in average annual value. Days later, Garrett became the NFL's first non-quarterback to hit $40 million in average annual value on a new contract. Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt upped that mark with a three-year, $123 million extension ($41 million per year) last week.
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Bonitto may not be in the upper-crust stratosphere just yet, but with 21 1/2 sacks across his past two seasons (tied for 10th in the league in that span), Denver's young edge rusher is poised to cash in soon.
'The edge market is kind of crazy right now, just knowing that everybody is getting these big deals and it's only getting bigger and bigger,' Bonitto said. 'Luckily for me, I'm in a good position right now where the market is kind of in my favor.'
The reason it's easy for Bonitto to ignore the massive dollar signs ahead? The autopsy of his 2024 season, as impressive as it was, left the young edge rusher feeling like he 'left food on the table still.' It was the motivation for workouts in Arizona and Florida this offseason, where Bonitto said he 'upped the ante' in search of a more impenetrable pass-rush plan.
'Looking back at it, I feel like I left a lot of (opposing blockers) off the hook with how I was rushing,' Bonitto said. 'It's just about being able to put constant pressure on tackles and then stuff in the run game I know I can be better at. That's what I want to develop as I continue to grow.'
Broncos head coach Sean Payton raised a few eyebrows during the offseason program when he said monitoring Bonitto's snap count was a priority for the coaching staff in 2025, saying the linebacker 'was at a pitch count that was borderline too high.' Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph later added that keeping all Denver's pass rushers fresh for what the team believes will be an important stretch run of the regular season — and beyond — is a priority, especially given the respective first-year impacts made by reserves Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman last season.
'Obviously, you're always conscious of a guy playing too many snaps,' Joseph said during the team's minicamp in June. 'It's a long season and you want guys to be healthy. Especially up front, right? It takes energy to rush the passer. So having a rotation with those guys is important. But I'm looking forward to Nik making another jump like Nik's made with me from his first to his second year, when he made a huge jump. Now, he's going into his third year with me and it's going to be another huge jump. Nik's humble. Nik's a worker, man. If you ask Nik if he's a great player yet, he'd tell you no. That's what you want from great players. He knows there's a lot more in there he can give us as a rusher.'
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Bonitto isn't necessarily asking for fewer snaps, but acknowledged that his body 'was starting to break down a little bit' as the 2024 season hit the backstretch. His workouts this offseason were geared toward creating a balance between creating more explosiveness and building the endurance that will carry him during critical pass-rush reps late in the season.
Those critical battles, of course, are a long ways off. With training camp on the horizon, Bonitto spoke Sunday like someone who was excited about all that exists on the horizon but has the wisdom not to chase it all at once. It's a far cry from the mindset he carried into his first training camp three years ago. He has advice for the wide-eyed 22-year-old trying to prove it all at once.
'I would kind of tell him not to put too much pressure on himself,' Bonitto said. 'Every day I was like, 'Man, I need to do something to impress the coaches and the guys around me.' I feel like now it's just taking it day by day and running your own race. There's no reason to have all this pressure.'