The Denver Broncos have worked hard over the past couple of years to secure core pieces of the roster under general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton. The latest to get a big-money deal is star pass rusher Nik Bonitto, who made the Pro Bowl in 2024 and looks like one of the top young edge players in the league.
The Broncos got Bonitto locked in to a four-year contract worth $106 million in total money and $70 million guaranteed.
In other words, the Denver Broncos got another absolute steal.
Broncos get Nik Bonitto signed to four-year extension before the 2025 season
The Broncos have been working on an extension with Bonitto for a good chunk of the offseason at this point, and everyone expected this news at some point before the start of the year. Now, Bonitto gets an extremely fair deal both for his production to this point as well as for the team at $26.5 million per year.
With just days until the Broncos take on the Tennessee Titans, there was undoubtedly an internal "soft deadline" to get a deal done before the regular season kicked off.
Over the past couple of years, the Broncos have given out contract extensions to a lot of different players on both sides of the ball:
- CB Pat Surtain II
- DL Zach Allen
- OL Quinn Meinerz
- WR Courtland Sutton
- EDGE Jonathon Cooper
- OT Garett Bolles
- DL DJ Jones
And a number of others to varying degrees.
What this means is that the Broncos are identifying core pieces of the roster under head coach Sean Payton and getting them locked in for what they believe is a Super Bowl window with young quarterback Bo Nix still on his rookie contract.
So why is the contract for Bonitto a steal? We've seen a lot of different EDGE players get signed to long-term contracts this offseason, and while Bonitto hasn't proven as much as some of these guys, it's clear that the market was raised significantly by each of these players:
- Micah Parsons, Packers: $46.5M/year
- TJ Watt, Steelers: $41M/year
- Myles Garrett, Browns: $40M/year
- Danielle Hunter, Texans: $36.5M/year
- Maxx Crosby, Raiders: $35.5M/year
Considering Bonitto didn't even become a full-time starter until a month or so into the 2023 season, it's fair to say his best football is yet to come. And the Broncos are investing now before his overall value increases beyond what they might be comfortable paying.
As jaw-dropping as average annual values might be these days, it's all about percentage of the salary cap. As the cap increases, the percentage of the cap is what really matters, not the shock factor of total money or average annual value. And because the Broncos are able to structure things in such a team-friendly way with guaranteed money, they are in an even more favorable spot.