The Denver Broncos nearly set the all-time single-season sack record in 2025 and return almost everyone involved in that effort.
The Denver Broncos expect to go further into the postseason with a trip to the Super Bowl in mind after coming up just short of their goal in 2025.
The unit somewhat struggled and while the defense wasn’t the reason Denver lost to the New England Patriots in the American Football Conference Championship, they showed that they were vulnerable down the stretch.
The offense will need to step up as well, in case the defense can’t repeat their dominant ways in 2026, but the Broncos’ goals could be in serious jeopardy if that is the case.
Getting a ton of sacks like they did in 2025 is a good way of ensuring they get to where they want to go and the unit will rely on linebacker Nik Bonitto to be the guy he was last season.
Bonitto played all 17 games and had 14 sacks with two forced fumbles and 46 total tackles (31 solo). He was Denver’s best defensive playmaker and was an anchor on one of if not the best defense in the National Football League.
Bonitto is entering his fifth season, and his sack numbers have increased year after year. But ESPN’s statistical model that is based on sack totals/rates from the last two seasons, projected snaps, pass rush win rate, past sack rates of quarterbacks on the schedule, team win totals from betting market, where a player aligns and age projects Bonitto to finish between 10 and 10.5 sacks.
That has his fourth on the list of projected sack leaders, behind only 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.”
Because the Broncos have star players all over the defense, it allows him to play quite freely, but he will need to be on the field more than he was last season.
“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.”
10 seems a bit low for Bonitto, and I expect him to be around his total from the past two seasons, especially if he needs to assist in replacing John Franklin-Myers’ 7.5 sacks from a year ago.
