The Denver Broncos are heading into 2026 with one of the league’s most dangerous pass-rushing setups, and Nik Bonitto sits right in the middle of it.
Bonitto is coming off a huge 2025 season, one that helped power Denver’s push toward the postseason. He played all 17 games, piled up 14 sacks, forced two fumbles and finished with 46 total tackles, including 31 solo stops. For Denver, he was the defense’s top playmaker and a major reason the unit was so disruptive.
That’s why ESPN’s projection stands out. Based on sack totals and rates from the last two seasons, projected snaps, pass rush win rate, quarterback sack rates on the schedule, team win totals from the betting market, where a player aligns and age, the model sees Bonitto landing between 10 and 10.5 sacks this season. That would put him fourth on ESPN’s list of projected sack leaders, behind Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Green Bay Packers DE Micah Parsons and Houston Texans DE Will Anderson Jr.
“Bonitto backed up his breakout 13.5-sack campaign in 2024 with 14 sacks in 2025,” ESPN’s Seth Walder wrote Saturday. “This season, he gets the benefit of being part of a Broncos defense that is not only strong overall (with great cornerbacks) but also blitzes at an above-average rate.”
The setup around him matters. Denver has star talent all over that defense, which gives Bonitto room to operate and attack. The catch, though, is that his snap count could limit just how far his numbers climb.
“If there's one thing holding Bonitto back, it's playing time,” wrote Walder. “Last season, he only played 62 percent of Denver's defensive snaps and was in only 60 percent of the time in clear pass-rushing situations. That puts a ceiling on his forecast.”
Even so, 10 sacks feels light for a player who has increased his sack total every year and just delivered back-to-back seasons of 13.5 and 14. If Denver needs him to help make up for John Franklin-Myers’ 7.5 sacks from a year ago, Bonitto may wind up right back in the thick of the league’s sack race.
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