The last time the Denver Broncos had a player with 10 sacks was all the way back in 2018. Can they break this unfortunate streak in 2024? Yes, 2018. The last two players to do it for Denver were Von Miller and Bradley Chubb, who are both now on different teams.
Miller led the team with 14.5 sacks, and Chubb had 12 himself. Since then, the Broncos have not been able to replace this high-end production, and it is beginning to be a massive problem. The team has yet to find that "alpha dog" off the edge since the Miller and Chubb trades.
Right now, the top pass rushers for the Broncos are Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, who both flirted with 10 sacks in 2023. Their best interior pass rusher is Zach Allen, and their trade for John Franklin-Myers does give Denver four serviceable pass-rush threats along the defensive front.
To a lesser extent, players like Baron Browning and rookie Jonah Elliss could have a say in the sack numbers in 2024 for the Denver Broncos. Right now, though, the two players who I could personally see hit the 10-sack total in 2024 are Nik Bonitto, the Broncos' best EDGE rusher, and Zach Allen, a very good defensive end.
Both players are still in their mid-20s and should be right in the thick of their primes. In 2023, Allen had five sacks, eight tackles for loss, and 24 QB hits, which led the Denver Broncos. For Bonitto, he had eight sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and 20 QB hits.
So in total, this duo combined for 13 sacks, 21 tackles for loss, and 44 QB hits. These two players were clearly able to get in the backfield for the Denver Broncos, and to me, as long as the defense again does not have a historically bad start like they did in 2023, the pass rush could be competent.
With added personnel on defense, the unit itself could end up finishing closer to the middle of the pack, which would be a welcome sight given how bad the unit was for half of the season.