{"id":171840,"date":"2025-07-01T02:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T02:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/171840\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T02:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T02:14:12","slug":"broncos-nik-bonitto-and-jonathan-cooper-named-top-pass-rushing-duo-in-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/171840\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper Named Top Pass-Rushing Duo in NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos’ Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper Named Top Pass-Rushing Duo in NFL<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Denver Broncos and\u00a0Jonathan Cooper and Nik Bonitto\u00a0stand atop the NFL with the most potent edge duo<\/a> entering this year, according to Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The two linebackers accounted for 24 sacks in 2024, the most by any duo in the league. Bonitto exploded onto the scene with 13.5 sacks, earning a Pro Bowl nod and Second-Team All\u2011Pro honors, while Cooper delivered 10.5 sacks to finish tied for 12th in the NFL.<\/p>\n

“These two were some of the most consistent edge-rushers in the NFL last year,” Holder said. “Their potential moving forward is through the roof.”<\/p>\n

Bonitto was a second-round pick in 2022 out of the Oklahoma, while Cooper was taken in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Ohio State and is now far and away outperforming his expectations.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) is tackled by Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto (15) and linebacker Jonathon Cooper (0) during the first half at MetLife Stadium.Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Cooper and Bonitto\u00a0helped carry Denver to a league-leading 63 team sacks, nine more than the Baltimore Ravens who finished second (54), but there are 38 more sacks to account for across the team.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“The Broncos have one of the best combos of interior pass-rushers in Zach Allen (25 career sacks in six seasons) and John Franklin-Myers (26.5 sacks in six seasons), and a young, promising edge-rusher off the bench in Jonah Elliss, who had five sacks as a rookie.”<\/p>\n

Cooper signed an extension worth $60 million over four years last November, while Bonitto could be getting a new contract soon<\/a>. With youth, explosiveness, and still some room to grow, the duo\u00a0could terrorize opposing quarterbacks for years to come if Denver locks Bonitto up long-term.<\/p>\n

Related: Broncos Safety Keidron Smith\u2019s Roster Hopes Hanging by a Thread<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 30, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos’ Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper Named Top Pass-Rushing Duo in NFL originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[1586,117,8226,232,231,258,2426,7,2318,1729,30743,3901,19377,6,1625,1626],"class_list":{"0":"post-171840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-bleacher-report","11":"tag-broncos","12":"tag-denver","13":"tag-denver-broncos","14":"tag-denverbroncos","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-john-franklin-myers","17":"tag-jonah-elliss","18":"tag-jonathan-cooper","19":"tag-jonathon-cooper","20":"tag-matt-holder","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-nik-bonitto","23":"tag-zach-allen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114775567008440220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}