3 Denver Broncos already playing their way into a new contract in 2025

The Denver Broncos may have a few players who are already making a case for new contracts in the 2025 NFL Offseason. While the Broncos are 0-2, the sky is not falling. This team started 1-5 in the 2023 NFL Season and managed to finish with eight wins. They'll get this thing moving in the right direction soon, and they could play spoiler in Week 3 when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Through two weeks, a few Broncos players already stick out as being extremely deserving of new contracts. Yes, it's been just two weeks, but their play is standing out, and there could be every reason in the book to keep them around beyond this year and on more long-term deals.

Which three players are playing their way into new contracts from the Broncos in 2025?

3 Denver Broncos already playing their way into a new contract in 2025
Zach Allen, DL

Zach Allen has been on fire this year, and could finish the year as one of the best defensive linemen in all of football. He ranks fourth in the NFL in pressures through two weeks according to PFF and is just disrupting plays with regularity.

The cool thing with Allen is that he is still just 27 years old and has played every year of his NFL career in Vance Joseph's defense, so him beginning to blossom in 2024 is not a surprise. Furthermore, ESPN's own rankings have Allen as the best pass-rush defensive tackle in the NFL through two weeks

He signed a three-year deal with Denver last offseason, and many people hammered the Broncos for the deal. But through a year and two games, the Broncos clearly made the right decisions in moving on from Dre'Mont Jones in favor of Allen, who is simply a better player. Allen would be entering the last year of his contract in 2025, so my guess is that Denver could add on another two years in the offseason and keep him locked up through 2027.

Zach Allen is turning into one of the very best defensive linemen in the NFL and is a primary reason why Denver's DL has been so good thus far in 2024.

Jonathon Cooper, EDGE

Jonathon Cooper is playing is tail off. Based on the ESPN rankings I just referenced with Zach Allen, Cooper ranks third among EDGE rushers in pass-rush win rate and fifth among EDGEs in run stop win rate through two games. Furthermore, this graph indicates that Cooper has also been the fastest pass-rusher in football:

The seventh-round pick back in the 2021 NFL Draft is turning into a budding star before our very eyes, and he is currently set to be a free agent in 2025. To me, unless something major changes, there is just no way that the Denver Broncos do not extend Cooper. He's the best pass-rusher on the roster right now and is clearly George Paton's best draft pick.

Jonathon Cooper may have arrived in the NFL, and it's a wonderful thing.

Josh Reynolds, WR

Quietly, Broncos WR Josh Reynolds is on pace for over 70 receptions and over 1,100 yards. He was not signed to be a 1,000-yard player, but if rookie QB Bo Nix keeps targeting him like this, I guess we could see the veteran WR, who signed on a two-year deal very late in the offseason, have his first career 1,000-yard season.

It would also be the Broncos first 1,000-yard receiver since Courtland Sutton back in 2020. Josh Reynolds is among the more efficient wide receivers in the NFL through two weeks. This graph shows just that:

If you are unfamiliar with these graphs, you want to see players in the top right quadrant. That's where Josh Reynolds is, and he's near players like Mike Evans, Cooper Kupp, Gabe Davis, Tyreek Hill, and Calvin Ridley. That's some great company to be in. It's nothing against Reynolds, but he really should not be the Broncos best WR this year.

The hope was and still is that Marvin Mims Jr can be that player for Denver, but through two games, it's not looking promising. The Broncos may be forced to extend Josh Reynolds next offseason through 2026 if he keeps this pace or a similar pace up. Reynolds may also make it easier on the Broncos to part with a guy like Courtland Sutton, who is just not cutting it in 2024 thus far.

It's most definitely a good thing that the Broncos may have to open up their check books this offseason for some of their own players.