The Denver Broncos need to show Nik Bonitto the money.
And they should do it ASAP, preferably before training camp rolls around next month.
Bonitto was a monster for the Broncos a season ago, registering 13.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, an interception and two touchdowns. He was in the conversation for NFL Defensive Player of the Year until December, an award that ultimately went to his teammate Pat Surtain II.
And right now, Bonitto is criminally underpaid.
His base salary the last three seasons was for about a combined $3 million. That’s a lot of money in the real world, but not in the world of professional football. Especially for a guy this productive who can wreck games.
We all remember the touchdowns Nik Bonitto scored against the Browns and the Colts, helping Denver go from 7-5 to 9-5 and solidify a real path to the playoffs for the first time in forever.
He has a nose for the football like we haven’t seen at edge-rusher for the Broncos since Von Miller. Bonitto isn’t Miller, at least not yet, but he has the potential to be the next great defensive disruptor to wear orange and blue.
Yes, Bonitto’s salary will increase to a little more than $5 million this season on the last year of his rookie deal, but the guy should be making four or five times that number.
Greg Penner, Sean Payton and George Paton need to rip up his old contract and pay Nik Bonitto $20 or $25 million per season. That’s what the best of the best on the edge get and deserve. If Bonitto landed at the $25 million mark, that would make him the eighth highest paid pass-rusher in the NFL. The position is expensive.
You can make a real case that Bonitto should be priority No. 1 for the Broncos over the next six weeks. We know Courtland Sutton, Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers all want to cash in, but Bonitto is the most valuable on that list.
Sutton is nearly 30, and we’ll see how much good football he has left in him. Denver would be smart to give him some incentives, just like last year, but it’s not wise to present him with an extension. Let’s see how 2025 goes first.
Allen and Franklin-Myers are both key pieces of this defense, and solid players, but neither can change a game on one play like Nik Bonitto proved multiple times last year.
It would be nice for every mouth to get fed, but these things have to take a natural order. And Bonitto is the top player of guys that are up for new contracts. Again, the Broncos have paid him pennies on the dollar for his production thus far.
The worst case would be this lingering into the season and Bonitto being unhappy. Then his play could suffer, or he could look to leave in free agency next spring. That’s just something that Payton and Paton can’t have happen. You don’t let good players at a premium position walk out the door.
So with mandatory mini-camp wrapping up later this week, the Broncos have nothing but time to get a new deal done with Bonitto between now and whenever camp starts in late July.
A lot of credit goes to the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group, they haven’t been shy about spending cash since buying the team. Guys like Pat Surtain II, Garett Bolles, Quinn Meinerz, Jonathon Cooper and others have been rewarded for their efforts.
Nik Bonitto is now next on that list. If anyone gets a new contract over the next six weeks, it should be him. Let’s not overthink this and figure out something soon.
Like, preferably in the next few days. Get it done.