{"id":324309,"date":"2025-08-28T12:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/324309\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T12:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:24:12","slug":"broncos-nik-bonitto-added-finesse-power-to-speed-rush-in-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/324309\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ Nik Bonitto added finesse, power to speed-rush in offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nik Bonitto<\/a> began working with pass-rush guru Javon Gopie in the spring of 2020, just as COVID shut down the world.<\/p>\n

They were in Florida, hopping from park to park and then jumping fences in search of an open patch of grass. They found it at St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Miramar. It was more loose rock than anything. But it was something.<\/p>\n

Bonitto was heading into his third year as an edge rusher at Oklahoma, and he was eager, but Gopie was baffled as he watched him run through drills.<\/p>\n

Bro,\u00a0Gopie recalled thinking, this dude does not move full speed. Nothing he does is full speed.<\/p>\n

Bonitto always had an innate ability to get to quarterbacks.\u00a0He came to Oklahoma as a four-star gem. But there was some immaturity, as former OU linebackers coach Brian Odom put it.<\/p>\n

Until those first couple of months, when Bonitto flipped a switch.<\/p>\n

Once a week in Miramar, Gopie would stand four yards away and bring up a couple of players at a time from a core group of trainees. Gopie would stick his hand out and twitch his knee, the sign to go. Whoever burst out of their stance first and slapped his palm won the rep.<\/p>\n

Dallas Turner<\/a>, a 2024 first-round pick, was there. So was Shemar Stewart<\/a>, the No. 17 pick in 2025.<\/p>\n

Nobody ever beat Bonitto.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe won every single time,\u201d Gopie said. \u201cEvery day, every single time. It wasn\u2019t even a question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, Bonitto was a redshirt afterthought at Oklahoma who could have been \u201cjust another freshman,\u201d as Odom said. Seven years and a second-team All-Pro nod<\/a> with the Broncos later, those same coaches marvel at one of the more incredible year-over-year ascents they\u2019ve seen. The kid who once weighed 210 pounds soaking wet is now a shade under 250. The kid who had raw speed is now a whirling blend of power and finesse.<\/p>\n

And the man who once doubted his own frame has adopted a new moniker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always joke around \u2014 I\u2019m, like, the top dog in there,\u201d Bonitto told The Denver Post in July. \u201cAnd then I was like, \u2018You know what? Cool name would be Bloodhound.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI kinda just get on \u2019em about that,\u201d Bonitto said. \u201cJust trying to \u2026 push everybody, work the hardest in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NikNik Bonitto (15) of the Denver Broncos narrowly misses a sack as Mac Jones (10) of the San Francisco 49ers moves during the first quarter at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Could anyone, a few years ago, have expected this? Bonitto, the hardest worker in the room? Bonitto, rounding into one of the great edge rushers in the NFL? Bonitto, the \u201cBloodhound,\u201d racking up 13.5 sacks at age 24 and hunting for more?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Odom responded. \u201cNot at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s what makes this story so unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the old regime at Oklahoma and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, staff sometimes referred to a player as an \u201canti-fatigue guy\u201d \u2014 someone who struggled to push through the point of fatigue.<\/p>\n

Bonitto was an anti-fatigue guy.<\/p>\n

One day in their freshman year at Oklahoma, Bonitto and teammate Delarrin Turner-Yell<\/a> were running through conditioning drills. A strength coach told\u00a0Turner-Yell, he remembered, that they\u2019d dole out additional punishment if they caught someone putting their hands on their hips.<\/p>\n

At one point, Bonitto put his hands on his hips. He was tired. So Turner-Yell walked past and slapped Bonitto\u2019s arms down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the type of guy that\u2019s like, \u2018Get me to Saturday, I\u2019ll make my plays and we\u2019ll go from there,’\u201d recalled Turner-Yell, now Bonitto\u2019s close friend and teammate in Denver. \u201cDidn\u2019t even care about practice during the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Bonitto redshirted his freshman year, a new defensive staff came in under Grinch in 2019. They didn\u2019t know much about Bonitto. They knew he was highly recruited. They expected him to flash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first, maybe, impression,\u201d Odom said, \u201cit wasn\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Bonitto\u2019s first season under the new regime, Grinch dropped him into coverage on over a quarter of his snaps to protect his body. He weighed 225 then, and staff felt he lacked the strength to mash for a full game against 300-pound linemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing for him was, how long do you fight to stay same as?\u201d Grinch said. \u201cHow long do you fight to simply be the athlete that runs around people?\u201d<\/p>\n

So Bonitto fought to change. Oklahoma staff, sensing Turner-Yell could pull something from him, assigned the two as weight-room partners. Then-OLBs coach Jamar Cain, now Denver\u2019s defensive-line coach, had plenty of \u201ctough conversations\u201d with Bonitto, as Grinch put it. And Bonitto sought out Gopie.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue, Gopie sensed, was Bonitto\u2019s confidence. His frame sometimes held him back. It also gave him the flexibility to plant and change direction in the tiniest of split-second windows, unimaginable for most behemoths at his position. He needed, as Gopie reflected, to believe what he did worked.<\/p>\n

Bonitto believed it in that parking lot back in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did take him some time to figure out what he did best,\u201d Gopie said. \u201cBut, man, I\u2019ll tell you \u2014 once he did, the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrockBrock Purdy #15 of the Iowa State Cyclones carries the ball against Nik Bonitto #11 of the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half of the 2020 Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship football game at AT&T Stadium on December 19, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the now-25-year-old Bonitto will go back and watch tape of his early days at Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI be looking at him like, he\u2019s terrible,\u201d Bonitto smiled while sitting on a bench in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also like that guy, and I appreciated him,\u201d he continued, a few words later. \u201cJust because he kinda has helped me through my time in the NFL, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonitto increased his pressures every single year he was at Oklahoma, and has increased his pressures every single year as a Bronco, culminating in last season\u2019s All-Pro leap in Year 3.<\/p>\n

Entering a contract year, Bonitto\u2019s poised to become one of the highest-paid pass-rushers in the league<\/a>. The money, though, is shoved to the back of his mind. As more attention swung his way last year, he started getting chipped more frequently by bodies flashing out of the backfield. He says he left plays on the field in 2024, so he spent his offseason watching tape of peers like the Giants\u2019 Brian Burns, the Texans\u2019 Will Anderson Jr., and the Steelers\u2019 TJ Watt, studying how they attacked chip-blocks.<\/p>\n

Everyone \u2014 from Turner-Yell to defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to Broncos edge Jonathon Cooper \u2014 suggests Bonitto hasn\u2019t approached his ceiling. His fourth season as a Bronco now brings a confluence of factors. He\u2019s still explosive. He\u2019s the heaviest and strongest that Gopie, or EXOS trainer Rich Pruett, has seen him. And he\u2019s learning to play chess.<\/p>\n

This offseason, a few years after St. John\u2019s, brought another breakthrough: finesse. Bonitto and Gopie spent a heap of time dissecting his successful initial rushes and then drilling subsequent countermoves that look the same to an offensive lineman in their approach. Set up what looks like a speed-rush, then pivot to a different angle.<\/p>\n

\"NikNik Bonitto (15) of the Denver Broncos watches the action against the San Francisco 49ers during the third quarter at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll see a lot of spinning out of him this year, a lot of inside moves,\u201d Gopie said. \u201cAnd then from there, once he starts to win inside \u2014 it\u2019s going to be very spooky. Because when somebody like him keeps you off balance, it\u2019s not gon\u2019 be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonitto wants to keep \u201cstacking years,\u201d as he put it. A long way, now, from the parking lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still haven\u2019t seen the best of Nik Bonitto yet,\u201d Gopie said.<\/p>\n

Top-producing NFL outside linebackers, 2024<\/p>\n

Mobile users, tap here to see the chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Name
\nTeam
\nPressures
\nHits
\nSacks<\/p>\n

Micah Parsons
\nDallas
\n46
\n23
\n12<\/p>\n

Jonathan Greenard
\nMinnesota
\n42
\n22
\n12<\/p>\n

Nik Bonitto
\nBroncos
\n36
\n24
\n13.5<\/p>\n

Brian Burns
\nN.Y. Giants
\n34
\n18
\n8.5<\/p>\n

Jared Verse
\nL.A. Rams
\n33
\n18
\n4.5<\/p>\n

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