Tag: Nik Bonitto

Broncos PFF grades: Best, worst players from win over Falcons

Nik Bonitto (90.0) was the Broncos’ best player vs. the Falcons, followed by Quinn Meinerz (92.1) and Bo Nix (83.3). View more PFF grades.

Following the Denver Broncos‘ 38-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Pro Football Focus has released grades for each player’s Week 11 performance.

PFF grades players on a 0 (worst) to 100 (best) scale. Check out the best and worst of Week 11 below.

Best Offensive Players 

  • G Quinn Meinerz: 92.1
  • QB Bo Nix: 83.3
  • OT Mike McGlinchey: 77.4
  • WR Devaughn Vele: 75.5
  • RB Javonte Williams: 73.8

Bo Nix had the best game of his career in a record-breaking performance. Denver has also found creative ways to get WR Marvin Mims (73.2) involved, and he ended the day with the sixth-best grade on offense.

Best Defensive Players 

  • OLB Nik Bonitto: 90.0
  • DL John Franklin-Myers: 77.4
  • DB Devon Key: 75.3
  • CB Pat Surtain: 70.1
  • DL Zach Allen: 65.6

Nik Bonitto has now topped his 2023 sack total and he’s just one sack away from the first double-digit sack season of his career. Bonitto’s nine sacks are tied for second-most in the NFL this season.

Worst Offensive Players 

  • G Ben Powers: 51.1
  • RB Jaleel McLaughlin: 54.6
  • C Luke Wattenberg: 59.0
  • TE Adam Trautman: 59.0
  • TE Lucas Krull: 59.3

Tight end needs to be a priority position for the Broncos in the offseason. Tyler Warren would be a dream draft target.

Worst Defensive Players 

  • DL Jordan Jackson: 29.5
  • LB Levelle Bailey: 41.9
  • DL Malcolm Roach: 45.7
  • OLB Jonathon Cooper: 46.3
  • CB Riley Moss: 48.2

The Cooper and Moss grades seem a bit harsh.

Special Teams 

  • ST Devon Key: 86.2
  • LS Mitchell Fraboni: 77.8
  • R Marvin Mims: 61.3
  • K Wil Lutz: 68.0 (FG) 55.2 (KO)
  • P Riley Dixon: 55.9

You can view grades for every player on the paid version of PFF’s website.

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Broncos OLB Nik Bonitto has ‘made the leap’ as a pass rusher

Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto leads the team with seven sacks this season. “He’s really helped us,” coach Sean Payton said.

After giving outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper a four-year contract extension earlier this month, the Denver Broncos will have another pass rusher due for a big raise before long.

Nik Bonitto, the team’s second-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2022, leads the team with seven sacks this fall and he’s on pace for the first double-digit sack season of his career after totaling eight sacks in 2023.

“He’s certainly made the leap,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said Monday. “He’s getting more snaps. He’s getting more pass-rush snaps. I think the key for Nik was playing the run and running at him. He’s at the right weight now.

“He’s a guy that plays with real good bend. He can bend and torque his body. He has a lot in the tank relative to his pass rush, and what he wants to do and how to set somebody up. He’s really helped us.”

Bonitto (7.0) and Cooper (6.5) have been a dynamic edge duo for Denver this season, and interior defensive linemen Zach Allen (5.0) and John Franklin-Myers (5.0) have boosted the unit’s totals. Through ten weeks, the Broncos rank second in the NFL with 35 sacks.

Bonitto has one more year left on his contract before becoming a free agent in 2025. He’s well on his way to getting a big extension like Cooper.

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Broncos’ locker room dejected after ‘worst loss’ ever against Chiefs

More than one Broncos player said Sunday was the worst loss of their lives. There’s still hope for the final stretch of the season, though.

Denver Broncos players were dejected in the locker room after a 16-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Broncos defensive lineman Zach Allen told The Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel that it was “the worst loss I’ve ever had in my life.” Denver pass rusher Jonathon Cooper also said he had never felt a loss as painful as Sunday’s.

On the final play of the game, the Chiefs blocked Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal attempt to seal Denver’s fate. Lutz was close to tears in the locker room after the game.

Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com tweeted that he hadn’t seen the team’s locker room that devastated since a double-overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2013 playoffs.

“I told our team I was proud of how they fought,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said after the game. “I thought we outplayed them. Nonetheless, you have to beat a champion. We weren’t able to do it. It is gut-wrenching.”

The game came down to the final play, but Denver shouldn’t have let it get to that point.

“It wasn’t just one play [that cost the game],” pass rusher Nik Bonitto said after the loss. “I mean, I had plays that I could have made today. [There were] plays on defense that we all could have been better on. So I mean, everybody can look at the last play, but there’s many plays in the game that you can look at that we could have been better.”

“It felt like we outplayed them, but we didn’t finish,” Payton said. “We had an opportunity to right at the end. We controlled the ball. We have to be able to finish. That one will take a while. It will sting.”

Broncos veteran right tackle Mike McGlinchey isn’t ready to throw in the towel.

“If you’re hanging your head at this point of the season, I don’t think you belong in this league,” McGlinchey said after the game. “We’re 5-5. We’re right in the thick of it. And we kind of control our own destiny here as this goes out. We have an opportunity to go and win a lot of football games with a lot of season left. And that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Bo Nix, Denver’s rookie quarterback said the team won’t hang their heads.

“We feel we can compete against a lot of teams in this league, all of them, really,” Nix said. “We’ve faced a lot of good teams this year and have been in one-possession games, it feels like, in every single one of them. We’re close, we just have to find ways to get over the hump, find ways to make a play when they don’t and make the play that wins it.

“In this league, that’s the line between playoff teams, championship teams and all the other guys. We’re here to fight. We don’t have a bunch of guys that are going to hang their heads and quit. We’re going to continue to fight and battle. Each week is going to have something else in store and we just have to respond.”

The Broncos will now attempt to bounce back at home when they host the Atlanta Falcons (6-4) at Empower Field at Mile High next week.

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Nik Bonitto not worried about sack streak being snapped by a technicality

The NFL deemed Nik Bonitto tackling Lamar Jackson eight yards behind the line as a TFL on a run play, not a sack. Bonitto brushed it off.

Going into last week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto had gone six straight games with a sack, tying Von Miller’s longest streak in Denver.

In the second quarter of the game in Baltimore, it looked like Bonitto extended his streak to seven games with he tackled Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the backfield for an eight-yard loss.

The NFL’s stats crew on hand credited it as a rushing attempt for Jackson, giving Bonitto a tackle for loss, but no sack. After an eventual 41-10 loss, Bonitto said the sack streak ending was “the last thing on my mind.”

While Bonitto shrugged it off, others would like to see a stat correction.

“I just want to know why that isn’t a sack?” NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger asked in a video posted on his Twitter/X page this week. “You tackled the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage — nobody knows exactly what that play’s supposed to be.”

NFL stat corrections usually arrive by this point in the week and there’s been no change, so the stat will likely remain as it is. Bonitto’s sack streak has ended. He’ll aim to start a new one against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

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Broncos’ updated OLB depth chart after Baron Browning trade

The Broncos still have plenty of depth at outside linebacker even after trading Baron Browning.

After agreeing to trade pass rusher Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, the Denver Broncos still have impressive depth at outside linebacker.

The team’s top pass rusher remains Jonathon Cooper, who just signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension. Next up is former second-round draft pick Nik Bonitto, who leads the team with six sacks this season. Cooper (5.5 sacks) and Bonitto will remain Denver’s top edge defenders.

Providing rotational depth behind Cooper and Bonitto are Jonah Ellis, a third-round pick in April, and Dondrea Tillman, a gem from the UFL.

The depth doesn’t stop there. The Broncos also have Andrew Farmer on the practice squad and the team is hopeful that Drew Sanders (Achilles) will be able to return from the physically unable to perform list this season.

Broncos OLB depth chart

OLB1: Jonathon Cooper
OLB2: Nik Bonitto
OLB3: Jonah Ellis
OLB4: Dondrea Tillman 
OLB5: Andrew Farmer
PUP: Drew Sanders

Denver’s still in good shape at the position after parting ways with Browning. The NFL’s trade deadline is 2:00 p.m. MT on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

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Ravens vs. Broncos: Top photos from Baltimore’s 41-10 win in Week 9

Top photos from the Baltimore Ravens 41-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 9 at M&T Bank Stadium

Denver entered the game 5-3 with the NFL’s third-ranked defense, but the Baltimore offense shredded them, as Vance Joseph’s defense surrendered 396 yards and five touchdowns on the afternoon.

The Ravens are 6-3 after a 41-10 win over the emerging Broncos at M&T Bank Stadium.

Here are the top photos from the win.

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Lamar Jackson finished with perfect passer rating as Ravens demolish Broncos 41-10

Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson finished with a perfect passer rating in Week 10 as the Ravens defeated the Broncos 41-10

The Ravens spent all week talking about removing the taste of an ugly loss to the Browns in Week 8. John Harbaugh’s team responded solidly, dominating the upstart Broncos 41-10 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Denver entered the game 5-3 with the NFL’s third-ranked defense, but the Baltimore offense shredded them, as Vance Joseph’s defense surrendered 396 yards and five touchdowns on the afternoon.

With talk about Josh Allen potentially winning MVP, Jackson completed 16 of 19 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday, marking his fourth perfect passer rating.

Derrick Henry finished with 101 yards rushing and two touchdowns, moving past Barry Sanders for 10th on the all-time touchdowns list and going over 1,000 yards for the sixth time in his career.

Zay Flowers had another 100-yard game, finishing with 127 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

On defense, Zach Orr’s unit surrendered 319 yards, including 197 passing and, most importantly, just ten points.

Baltimore will now prepare for Cincinnati on a short week and Amazon’s Thursday Night Football.

Nik Bonitto is the first Bronco to accomplish this stat since Von Miller

Nik Bonitto is the first Broncos defender to record a sack in six straight games since Von Miller in 2018.

Denver Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto sacked Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 28-14 win.

That marked Bonitto’s sixth sack of the season and his sixth consecutive game with a sack this fall. He is Denver’s first player to accomplish that feat since Von Miller in 2018. It’s tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history, only trailing records set by Simon Fletcher (eight straight games in 1991 and 10 straight games from 1992-1993).

“Just keep following the game plan that ‘VJ’ (Vance Joseph) gives us,” Bonitto said after the game. “Continue to follow the rush plan that Coach [Michael] Wilhoite and Coach Jamar [Cain] gives us every week. Just making sure we are all rushing. DBs are always going to do their job with us so just making sure we’re rushing and following the gameplan.”

Bonitto’s six sacks are a team-high, but Jonathon Cooper (5.5) is not far behind. Both players are on pace for double-digit sacks in 2024.

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5 takeaways from Broncos’ 28-14 win over Panthers

Here are five takeaways from the Broncos’ victory over the Panthers on Sunday.

The Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 28-14 at home in Week 8. Here are five quick takeaways from the victory.

1. Courtland Sutton gets rewarded: Sutton was a good sport after he drew zero targets in the team’s last game. He followed that up with his first 100-yard performance since 2022 with eight catches for 100 yards on Sunday. He also completed a pass, keeping his 100% completion rate alive (3-of-3).

2. Nik Bonitto’s sack streak continues: With one sack against Bryce Young, Bonitto has now recorded a sack in six straight games. He’s the first Bronco to accomplish that feat since Von Miller in 2018. The team’s all-time record is held by Simon Fletcher (ten straight games). He might not catch Denver’s all-time record, Bonitto does have the longest active streak in the NFL.

3. Nobody will feel sorry for Jaycee Horn: CBS cameras caught Horn chirping at Broncos coach Sean Payton after the game for attempting to run up the score. This is Horn’s fourth season in the NFL. Having that kind of reaction to a professional football team running a fake field goal and trick play in the fourth quarter won’t draw him any sympathy. This is the Big Time.

4. Bo Nix continues to trend up: Yes, it was against a struggling defense, but that was exactly the kind of performance we wanted to see from Nix. The rookie quarterback went 28-of-37 passing for 284 yards with three touchdown passes and no turnovers, good for a 124.2 passer rating. Nix also rushed for a touchdown and he’s the team’s first QB since John Elway (1996) to have multiple games with at least two passing touchdowns and a rushing score in in the same season.

5. The real test is yet to come: The Broncos took care of business against the Panthers, as they were expected to. Now the team has back-to-back road games on deck against the Baltimore Ravens (5-3) and Kansas City Chiefs (7-0). Denver can’t lose two fumbles and get away with it against AFC contenders like they did against the lowly Panthers. Sunday was a good team win, but the Broncos have work to do. We’ll find out a lot about this team over the next two weeks.

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Nik Bonitto makes Broncos history by matching a Von Miller stat

Nik Bonitto is the first Broncos pass rusher since Von Miller (2018) to record at least one sack in five straight games.

After recording three tackles, three quarterback hits, one tackle for a loss and one sack in a 33-10 win over the New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto has now recorded a sack in five straight games.

Bonitto is the first player in franchise history to record a sack in five consecutive games since Von Miller did so in 2018 (and 2017 and 2015). Miller holds the team’s all-time record with six straight games recording at least one sack (2018).

As a team, the Broncos have totaled 28 sacks this season, which leads the league going into Sunday’s games (the New York Giants are second with 26). Vance Joseph’s defense recorded six sacks against the Saints, marking the fifth straight game that Denver has totaled at least three sacks. The last time that happened for the Broncos was in 2015.

Denver’s 28 sacks are the third-most through seven weeks in franchise history, and the most since 2015. The Broncos have 12 players with at least half a sack this fall with Bonitto (five), Jonathon Cooper (4.5) and Zach Allen (4.0) leading the way.

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