NFL predictions: Predicting Denver Broncos sack leaders in the 2024 season

The Denver Broncos do not have a truly elite pass-rusher, but they do have several bodies who can make some noise in the 2024 NFL Season. The team had three players with at least five sacks in 2023. Jonathon Cooper led the way with 8.5 Nik Bonitto had eight, and Zach Allen had five. Baron Browning had 4.5 in 10 games.

The team seemed to be running some sort of hybrid Vic Fangio/Vance Joseph style of defense in the beginning part of the 2023 NFL Season. There were rumblings that Sean Payton actually wanted to hire Vic Fangio to be his defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos. Once it was apparent that the defense was not working, Joseph started to do his thing on defense.

The unit improved, and with the growth of guys like Bonitto and Cooper, 2024 could be a great year for the team. Denver also added two new bodies along the defensive line. They traded for John Franklin-Myers, a very good defensive end, and signed an above-average run-stuffer in Malcolm Roach.

All in all, the Broncos front seven should be much better in 2024. Cody Barton replaces the departed Josey Jewell at ILB, and Barton is actually better in coverage. While sacks do not tell the entire story, it's safe to say that many of us love looking a sack totals, so let's try to predict the Broncos sack leaders in 2024.

NFL predictions: Predicting Denver Broncos sack leaders in the 2024 season
1. Jonathon Cooper - 10.5

I'm going to go all-in on Jonathon Cooper. His play really kicked up a notch from year two into year three, and he started all 17 games for Denver. Along with his 8.5 sacks in 2023, Cooper added 72 total tackles and eight tackles for loss. It's clear that there is still some improvement left for Cooper to make, and I truly believe he develops further in 2024. Would 10.5 sacks be too generous? I don't think so.

2. Nik Bonitto - 9.0

Nik Bonitto won a lot of his pass-rush reps in 2023, so if he is given more run on defense, he could see his sack total explode. The Broncos may have a ton of mouths to feed off the EDGE in 2024, so it's not that I am lower on Bonitto, but I do not see him being someone who fills the stat sheet with a ton of sacks.

He did have 20 QB hits and 13 tackles for loss in 2023, so his numbers were very good. Can he improve across the board in 2024? He can, but it might be more modest improvement that we think at the moment.

3. Zach Allen - 7.0

Zach Allen has played every year of his NFL career in Vance Joseph's defenses, so he could keep getting better and better. He led the Denver Broncos with 24 QB hits in 2023, so he's turned into one of the better defensive ends in the NFL.

The Broncos are truly fortunate to have a quality player like Allen, and if he does hit seven sacks in 2042, it'd be a career-high. Now that he has an above-average running mate in John Franklin-Myers, Allen's job along the defensive line got that much easier.

4. Baron Browning - 5.5

Baron Browning was the full-time starter at EDGE when he returned from injury in 2023, but I just do not see what others see with him. I mean, he's struggled to stay on the field in each of his first three seasons, so him being an insane athlete with crazy bend off the edge does not matter if he can't stay on the field.

Browning will still be able to get into the backfield because of how explosive he is, but I do not envision a ton of sacks coming his way.

5. John Franklin-Myers - 5.0

John Franklin-Myers' career-high is six sacks in 2021 with the New York Jets. He's never racked up a ton, but across a 17-game season, JFM has averaged four sacks in his 81 career regular season games. Let's be a bit more optimistic for 2024 and project that he gets to five sacks. Playing across from Zach Allen is definitely going to help, and the Broncos do have a talented enough EDGE room for JFM to get some easy matchups from time to time.