Mile High Sports
The Denver Broncos outside linebacker room features Nik Bonitto’s emergence as one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, and enviable depth behind him as the team looks to break the league’s sack record.
Coming into training camp, Nik Bonitto is the leader of the Denver Broncos outside linebacker group, a unit that has helped the team lead the league in sacks in back-to-back seasons. In 2026, this group, led by Bonitto, aims to break that record of 72 set by the 1984 Chicago Bears.
Bonitto is coming off a 14-sack season, building on the 13.5-sack season he had in 2024. He finished fourth last season in voting for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award, which ultimately went to Myles Garrett. He’s fully healthy coming into camp after he underwent wrist surgery this offseason to repair an injury he suffered in Week 2 of the regular season.
Opposite him, Jonathon Cooper has been the other biggest impact contributor at outside linebacker. As Cooper currently deals with an offseason legal dispute stemming from a domestic violence incident during OTAs, it’s unclear what the current plan is for him.
The team excused him for mandatory minicamp, where he then spent over a month receiving inpatient counseling and completed a mental health program. This past Friday, Cooper’s hearing was reset for an arraignment on Aug. 31 at 1:30 p.m, where he’ll enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
The legal process in this instance could take a while to land on an official ruling, and the NFL could step in and either place Cooper on the commissioner’s exempt list or hand down a suspension. Until that happens, there’s a strong chance that Cooper could be on the field as the team practices next week.
In the meantime, the Broncos must plan for the possibility he won’t be on the field in the regular season, which leads to Jonah Elliss being the prime candidate to take on a larger role.
Elliss was initially set to get some snaps at off-ball linebacker, but Broncos head coach Sean Payton said that he was playing too well at outside linebacker to make that switch. When Cooper was excused from OTAs, Elliss was the primary guy opposite Bonitto, and he looked great without pads.
If he can look the part when the pads come on, there’s a chance Elliss takes over Cooper’s role as the starter.
Behind Elliss, Dondrea Tillman and Que Robinson are the prime two names in the rotation. Tillman was tied for the team lead in interceptions last season with two of them, showcasing his ability to drop back into coverage off the edge. Robinson saw limited snaps in a rotational call-up role last season, and every time he had a chance to get onto the field, he shined, including in the AFC Championship against the Patriots, where he shed a chip block from a wing leading underneath the offensive formation and...
