How linebacker Nik Bonitto turned into a gem of Von Miller trade for Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – When Nik Bonitto was selected by the Broncos with the last pick of the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the last thing on his mind was how Denver came to own the pick used to select the outside linebacker from the University of Oklahoma.

Nor did he think at any other time about the origins of the choice. It wasn’t until a reporter approached him with a question last week, prior to a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in which Bonitto was playing?

Did you know that the pick the Broncos used to select you was obtained by trading Von Miller?

“I didn’t know that,” Bonitto said, raising a curious eyebrow.

The Broncos traded Miller, the all-time sack leader and a surefire future Hall of Famer, to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021. The Broncos got back a second- and third-round pick, a big return that general manager George Paton was. able to negotiate after agreeing to pay most of Miller’s remaining salary. The trade at the time gave the Broncos a combined four second- and third-round picks in the 2022 draft, along with their own first-round pick. Without that additional capital, Paton said, it would have been difficult for the Broncos to agree to a trade in March 2022 in which they acquired quarterback Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks for two first-round picks and two second-rounders.

The Wilson era was short-lived, with the veteran posting an 11-19 record in two seasons before being released last spring. But Bonitto has become more than a consolation prize in a blockbuster deal that helped the Rams win a Super Bowl. The third-year linebacker’s sack of Patrick Mahomes on Sunday was his seventh in eight games. No Broncos player has experienced a stretch like this since Miller had nine sacks in an eight-game span in 2018 and Bradley Chubb had 10 in a similar span that season. When Bonitto recorded a sack in six straight games earlier this season, he became the first player since Miller to create such a stretch.

“He’s definitely made the jump,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “He’s getting more and more snaps. He’s getting more pass-rush snaps. I think the key for Nik was to run and run at him. He is now the right weight. He’s a guy who plays with a really good bend. He can bend and twist his body. He has a lot going for him in terms of his pass rush, and what he wants to do and how he can trap someone. He really helped us.”

Bonitto created a career-high pressure six times against the Chiefs on Sunday, and three of those were “quick pressures,” according to Next Gen Stats, where the pressure was applied in 2.5 seconds or less. There is no one in Denver that compares to Miller’s production. He was a three-time first-team All-Pro during his 10-plus seasons with the Broncos. He was the MVP of Super Bowl 50 after a virtuoso performance that resulted in the franchise’s third championship. But from a pure character perspective – the quick movement, the ability to bend over the edge – there are shades of No. 58 in some of No. 15’s performances this season.

“He’s a guy that I’ve always seen as the epitome of what the great edge rusher is and he’s the standard for what I want to be,” Bonitto said of Miller after the 2022 draft. “I just look at him, I just see a lot of things he did in the game – (those) things I want to achieve.

Much of Bonitto’s jump in year three can be attributed to opportunity. He’s playing a career-high 58 percent of Denver’s defensive snaps (52 percent in 2023; 35 percent in 2022), a product of his ability to provide better support in the running game. Much of its growth in that area is due to its size. Bonitto admits that as a rookie he struggled with the sharp increase in calories the Broncos wanted him to consume.

“Even now, sometimes Ms. Ema (Thake, the team’s performance nutrition director) will bother me,” Bonitto said.

Nevertheless, Bonitto has grown bigger. He has also gained a better understanding of how teams tried to exploit him in the run game.

“Getting stronger has helped, but it’s just reps,” Bonitto said. “When I was in college, I didn’t go against a lot of NFL-style offenses. It was very different. So getting more reps under my belt and seeing what teams throw at me has helped a lot.”

The improvement has turned Bonitto into a three-down rusher, which has led to more pass-rush opportunities. More opportunities to make a dynamic first step that has yielded tackles this season. Bonitto has taken advantage in more of those situations as well. Last season, he converted 17 percent of his pressures into sacks, according to TruMedia. That number has increased to 22.5 percent this season (seven sacks in 31 pressures). Teammate Zach Allen has seen Bonitto occasionally this season and wondered, “How did he get there so fast?”

During Bonitto’s final high school season at St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida, his defensive line coach was none other than Hall of Fame pass rusher Jason Taylor. Bonitto said the lessons Taylor learned during that one season were invaluable as he prepared to make the jump to the Big 12. But perhaps more important than anything was the assurance that he was on the right track in his quest to become an NFL pass rusher. Bonitto’s father, Vince, told a reporter in 2022 that during his lone season at Bonitto, Taylor said the young pass rusher was well ahead of Taylor at the same age.

With more confidence and strength, that talent is blossoming for Bonitto in his third NFL season.

“My trinity of outside guys that I’ve played with are Chandler (Jones), Haason Reddick and Nik, and not even in that order,” Allen said. “I think you could make a case for Nik in the long run. When I played with Chandler, he was in his later years. Haason was in year 4 or 5. I think it will be really cool to see with Nik where he compares at that same point. From an athletic standpoint, I’ve always said Haason was the best athlete I ever played with as an outside player. But Nik – and honestly Coop (Jonathon Cooper) is a freak athletically – it’s just the real natural curve, I would put him there.

Reddick totaled seven sacks during his first three NFL seasons with the Cardinals before breaking out with a 12 1/2 sack campaign during his fourth year in 2020. Bonitto, who had eight sacks in 2023, could follow a similar trajectory. He and Cooper are on pace to become the first Broncos pass rushers to reach 10 sacks since Miller (14 1/2) and Chubb (12) combined for 26 1/2 in 2018.

That duo often spoke that season about how the internal competition fueled both players. Bonitto and Cooper have felt a similar boost during their season race. Cooper defeated Bonitto for the team sack crown with a half takedown last season. This season, Bonitto leads by half a sack heading into Sunday’s pivotal game against the Atlanta Falcons.

“We are super competitive and we keep pushing each other,” Cooper said this week. “That’s my brother, man. We’ve been playing together for three years now. We’re going to make things difficult for each other. I get angry every time he hits me. Every time I beat him he gets angry. It’s just back and forth and we’re definitely going to make it an exciting competition until the end.”

The trade for Miller certainly worked out for the Rams, even if it turned out to only be a half-season rental. Less than four months after the takeover, the franchise celebrated its second championship. Miller had four sacks during the postseason run, including two in the 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. But with every lightning strike Bonitto makes toward an opponent’s backfield, it becomes clearer that the Broncos also got a gem in the deal.

(Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)