{"id":229490,"date":"2025-07-23T10:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/229490\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T10:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:53:12","slug":"if-broncos-wont-pay-nik-bonitto-another-nfl-team-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/229490\/","title":{"rendered":"If Broncos won’t pay Nik Bonitto, another NFL team will"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a garbage-time artist, Nik Bonitto sure is becoming a serious paint in the grass.<\/a><\/p>\n

Since 2023, the Broncos\u2019 25-year-old edge rusher has averaged a sack every 57.3 snaps. That\u2019s a better clip, if you\u2019re curious, than TJ Watt (61.3)<\/a>, Myles Garrett (58.5)<\/a> and Danielle Hunter (60.4).<\/p>\n

Watt just landed an extension from Pittsburgh worth $41 million per year. Garrett\u2019s contract with Cleveland averages $40 million. Hunter\u2019s on a 1-year, $35.6-million deal with Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to imagine (Bonitto) is looking at more than $30 million per year,\u201d former NFL agent and current CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry<\/a> told me by phone Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have multiple guys over $40 million per season \u2014 (Micah) Parsons will get there, (Aidan) Hutchinson (too) \u2014 (he\u2019s thinking), \u2018I need to reap the benefits of that.’\u201d<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s me, I make Bonitto wait. I pay wide receiver Courtland Sutton and defensive end Zach Allen first as a reward for services rendered. I\u2019m tempted to give Allen the bag and Bonitto the franchise tag. Do it one more time, kid. One more double-digit sack season, then I\u2019ll back up the Brink\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n

Corry chuckled at that. He got it. But then he kindly pointed out one problem with that plan: The open market.<\/p>\n

If I don\u2019t pay Bonitto now, the analyst noted, I\u2019m letting someone else \u2014 probably Dallas with Parsons, maybe the Lions with Hutchinson \u2014 set No. 15\u2019s asking price going forward. Especially if Bonitto repeats his Pro Bowl numbers (13.5 sacks, two fumbles forced, four pass break-ups) from 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think (the Broncos) want to go there,\u201d Corry said.<\/p>\n

He also thinks they don\u2019t want to bump the former Oklahoma Sooners star\u2019s base salary from the $5.346 million he\u2019s due this fall<\/a> to something in the $30-million-ish neighborhood without seeing him do it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may look at it from the standpoint (of), \u2018We want certainty,’\u201d Corry noted. \u201cObviously, the earlier you do a deal, the cheaper it\u2019s going to be. But if you\u2019re not certain that what you see is what you\u2019re going to get, maybe you wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a darned good reason why you don\u2019t. The Broncos got ahead of the market on cornerback Pat Surtain II<\/a>, giving him a four-year contract last September before his 25th birthday worth $96.2 million \u2014 $77.5 million of that guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Talk about a bargain. PS2 responded with the best season of his career. Surtain won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors and provided the kind of cover that helped Vance Joseph\u2019s defense pile up the most sacks in a season in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a prime example,\u201d Corry continued, \u201cof why you do a great player (extension) as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let\u2019s cut to the chase,\u201d I countered. \u201cIs Bonitto great \u2014 or very good?\u201d<\/p>\n

A pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s put it this way,\u201d Corry replied. \u201cHe\u2019s not to edge rushers what Pat Surtain II is to cornerbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, so how close is he to say, TJ Watt?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t put him (up) there yet either,\u201d Corry said. \u201cHe\u2019s done it once. But sometimes all you need is once to get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to understand the arguments against breaking the bank for Bonitto. The fourth-year linebacker is as lean (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) as he is mean. He\u2019s still a too-frequent target for opponent rushing attacks \u2014 Pro Football Focus last season graded him 48th in run defense out of 72 NFL edge rushers who logged at least 500 snaps. And while 10% of Watt\u2019s sacks and 21% of Garrett\u2019s sacks the last two seasons have come while their teams were playing with a lead of nine points or more, they\u2019ve accounted for 39% of Bonitto\u2019s quarterback takedowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d probably have a hard time doing $30 (million) for him right now,\u201d Corry said. \u201cI could go under (Jacksonville\u2019s Josh) Hines-Allen\u2019s $28.3 million, but over $25 million \u2026 I could be amenable to that. Maybe throw in some incentives for outstanding performance that get you where you want to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends on how badly they want to sign him. Are they like, \u2018We need to have this guy.’\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s hope for a deal getting done soon, it\u2019s in the fact that PS2 and Bonitto have the same agent. Everybody\u2019s done this dance before.<\/p>\n

Which is good, because remember that open market? It\u2019s not waiting around. The Chiefs recently handed defensive end George Karlaftis a four-year extension worth $23.3 million per year. He\u2019s closer to Allen than he is, say, Bonitto, but we\u2019re continuing to inch toward that $30 million number Corry underlined.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s a better investment?\u201d I wondered. \u201cBonitto or Karlaftis?\u201d<\/p>\n

Corry laughed again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Karlaftis hasn\u2019t been to a Pro Bowl. Karlaftis hasn\u2019t been named to an All-Pro team by anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cOne guy was among the top 10 in sacks, and one guy wasn\u2019t. Garbage time or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a garbage-time artist, Nik Bonitto sure is becoming a serious paint in the grass. Since 2023, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,5748,861,85,4092,1270,231,258,2426,7,221,929,926,1304,6,1625,1135,1787,3267,4912,5295,9,2833,2832,1626],"class_list":{"0":"post-229490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-broncos-takes","10":"tag-cbs","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-contract","13":"tag-courtland-sutton","14":"tag-denver","15":"tag-denver-broncos","16":"tag-denverbroncos","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-houston","19":"tag-latest-headlines","20":"tag-more-broncos-news","21":"tag-myles-garrett","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-nik-bonitto","24":"tag-oklahoma","25":"tag-oklahoma-sooners","26":"tag-pat-surtain-ii","27":"tag-pro-bowl","28":"tag-sean-keeler","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-columnists","31":"tag-vance-joseph","32":"tag-zach-allen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229490","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=229490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}