Time to extend Cooper, Bonitto?

BRONCOS MAILBAG

Nik Bonitto of the Denver Broncos gets a hand on Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the fourth quarter at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 22. AARON ONTIVEROZ — THE DENVER POST

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By Parker Gabriel

pgabriel@denverpost.com

Q >> Do you think we’ll lock in new contracts for both Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper?

— Mike, Denver

Parker >> Bonitto and Cooper should be in the long-term picture, but the timelines for dealing with their respective contracts differ. Cooper’s a free agent after this year, while 2025 is the final year of Bonitto’s four-year rookie deal.

Cooper’s done nothing but improve his standing and make himself money so far this year.

In fact, what he’s done is really impressive going back further than that. The 2021 seventh-round draft pick has now played in 37 straight games for Denver going back to 2022 and he’s started 34 of the past 35. He’s got 5.5 sacks so far this year, putting him on an 11.5-sack pace that would comfortably eclipse last year’s career-best 8.5.

Edge players in the NFL get paid. There are 20 players listed as edge rushers with average annual contract values at $15 million or more per year, according to OvertheCap, and 35 who have AAVs of $10 million per year or more.

Right now OTC’s contract valuation is really high on Cooper and pegs his value north of $19 million. Whether he gets that kind of deal remains to be seen, but he’s going to get paid. Jonathan Greenard had somewhat similar early-career stats and pressure rates for Houston, broke out with 12.5 sacks in his contract season last year and then got four years and $76 million ($42 million guaranteed) from Minnesota this spring

Cooper would seem like a natural candidate for the ol’ bye week extension, but the Broncos haven’t handed any of those out since Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick in 2021. Plus, there’s a complicating factor: Denver has very little cap space to work with.

OvertheCap has the Broncos at $1.77 million in space, and the latest NFLPA data has them at $1.66 million. They could create some, but they’ve already moved a lot of money around in the past year.

They cleared a bunch of space so they could work in free agency despite having $53 million of Russell Wilson’s cap charges on this year’s books. They pushed more into the future to sign Pat Surtain II to that extension before the season.

So it’s not impossible that Cooper (or Baron Browning or any of the Broncos’ other players on expiring contracts) could get an in-season extension, but it would not be surprising if that work waited until after the season.

As for Bonitto, there’s time. Maybe they decide it makes sense to do it in the offseason, but they could wait all the way until mid- or post-2025 season, too.

Q >> With Josh Reynolds out for the foreseeable future, do you see the Broncos making a move for another receiver? If we don’t make a trade, how about kicking the tires on Michael Thomas?

— Mark, Arvada

Parker >> Reynolds has to miss at least one more game on injured reserve due to the finger injury he sustained against Las Vegas, but that’s not expected to keep him out long-term. And though we don’t know the extent of the injuries he sustained when he was shot earlier this month, we do know they’ve been called “minor” by the team and that he’s been around practice the past week without any visible signs of injury.

Regardless of whether Reynolds is available, the Broncos have young players they want to develop in Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele and Marvin Mims Jr.