One player the Denver Broncos may be extending this offseason is Nik Bonitto, but what would the contract extension look like? Earning Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors in 2024, Nik Bonitto truly hit his stride for the Broncos in his third year in the NFL. He had 13.5 sacks, 16 tackles for loss, 24 QB hits, and two defensive touchdowns.
He also had two forced fumbles and four passes defended. The main knock on Bonitto coming out of college was his size and his inability to set the edge in the run game. If you ask me, Bonitto put a lot of that to bed in 2024 and turned into one of the better pass rushers in the NFL.
The other side of this is him now being eligible for the rookie contract extension. It is very common for NFL teams to extend their stud players in the first year they become eligible. Bonitto could be in line for a huge extension, and we have seen the Broncos recently extend a few of their young guys in Patrick Surtain II, Quinn Meinerz, and Jonathon Cooper.
Is Nik Bonitto next? If so, what would his contract extension look like?
The numbers might shock you...
According to spotrac.com, the market value for Nik Bonitto is a four-year, $102,016,564 deal, which comes out to about $25.5 million per season. Among pass rushers, the $25.5 million per year would put him just above Rashan Gart, Montez Sweat, Danielle Hunter, and Myles Garrett, who is making $25 million per year.
Players above him would include TJ Watt, Brian Burns, Josh Hines-Allen, and Nick Bosa.
Now, it is important to remember that when deals get signed, they progressively get more expensive as the NFL salary cap increases. It is not necessarily an overpay to hand Bonitto a deal worth over $25 million. That simply might be a fair value for the player. And when you think about it, the Broncos should want to pay players the top-of-market value.
That means they have elite players...
At the end of the day, while some Broncos fans might shake their head in disgust at this number, it's not their money, and it's also a good thing when the team is able to draft and develop, especially at key positions in today's NFL. Could we see Broncos OLB Nik Bonitto sign a deal worth over $25 million per season this offseason?