After two straight seasons of franchise-record sack totals, the Broncos are suddenly staring at the kind of pass-rush drop-off nobody saw coming.
What used to be one of Denver’s clearest team identities has slipped early in 2026. The Broncos have been known for getting after quarterbacks, and that edge is no longer showing up the way it did over the past couple of years.
The numbers through the first month tell the story: Denver is tied for 15th in the NFL in pass rush win rate at 51 percent, alongside the Buccaneers and Bengals. Last season, the Broncos were fourth in the league.
The biggest reason is easy to spot. Losing John Franklin-Myers in free agency and Jonathon Cooper off the field has hit this defense harder than expected. Those two combined for 15.5 sacks and 31 QB hits last season, and they also helped keep opposing offenses from loading up all their attention on the Broncos’ other rushers.
That matters, especially for Nik Bonitto. With Cooper gone, Bonitto has had to deal with more attention, and that has made life tougher for him.
Cooper remains on the Commissioner's Exempt List because of multiple arrests in the offseason. He cannot practice or play for the team right now, and there’s no firm timeline for his return because the legal process could still lead to an actual suspension from the league.
Franklin-Myers, meanwhile, is doing what he usually does. With the Titans, he has 4 pressures, 2 QB hits, and 1 sack so far this season, which keeps him on the kind of pace he’s posted for most of his NFL career.
Denver’s problems have been made worse by Jonah Elliss not giving them the lift they hoped for. Through four weeks, Elliss has played 174 snaps, or 62 percent of the defensive snaps, but he has only 2 pressures, 1 QB hit, and no sacks. Against the Rams, he was repeatedly overpowered by tight ends.
He hasn’t been able to hold the edge, he hasn’t been getting home as a pass rusher, and that’s left him looking like a real weak spot on the defense. That’s a rough turn for a player the Broncos were hoping would break out this year, maybe even enough to make them regret not giving him more of Cooper’s snaps earlier.
Right now, Denver needs more from Elliss. And it needs more from the pass rush as a whole.
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Moss is only 26 and was a third-round pick, the kind of young defender a team would prefer to keep unless the return is meaningful. For Detroit, the appeal is obvious given the early-season struggles on that side of the ball, but any attempt to pry him loose would likely take a sizable draft haul and that is where the real question begins. [Read more 🡒]