Gradually, this has become Nik Bonitto’s home. Just like Fort Lauderdale, where he sprouted enough potential in high school to once tell off Hall of Famer Jason Taylor. Just like Norman, where he bulked a thin frame enough to dominate the edge at Oklahoma.
He has gotten better at football every single year of his career since he was a teenager. He’s matured along with it, now entering Year 4 with the Broncos. And this offseason, seeing the examples set by lifer Garett Bolles and others, Bonitto decided to host his first youth football camp in Denver. Why not, he figured.
“Love the community that I’ve kinda made myself in,” Bonitto said at his Sunday camp at Littleton’s Columbine High School.
It was a clear point to his commitment to Denver, where he’s gone from third-round backup to second-team All-Pro in a matter of three years. Whether he’s able to plant true roots will hinge on Denver’s commitment to him as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.
On Sunday, Bonitto confirmed to reporters at his camp that contract-extension talks with the Broncos were “happening right now.” The edge didn’t specify when his camp was looking to have a deal finalized by, though. He said his focus was simply on “trying to get a championship.”
It was a largely wait-and-see public stance, a direct contrast to the public tactics wielded by edge contemporaries in a bonkers NFL offseason. Cowboys OLB Micah Parsons’ potential holdout has been the talk of the offseason in Dallas. T.J. Watt skipped the Steelers’ mandatory minicamp to put pressure on Pittsburgh, then signed a $123 million extension. The Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson lamented a lack of communication from Cincinnati before his contract talks resumed.
Beyond a few nods to his status here and there, Bonitto has spent his offseason posting workout videos and glowing reviews of Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.” He was at Denver’s OTAs and minicamp and gave no reason to believe he’d skip either. He wore a tank top and an easy smile on Sunday.
“The edge market is kinda crazy right now, just knowing that everybody’s getting these big deals, and it’s only getting bigger and bigger,” Bonitto said. “And luckily for me, I’m in a good position right now, where the market’s kinda in my favor.”
Bonitto now floats in the middle of an inflated landscape. There’s Watts’ deal. Raiders star Maxx Crosby inked a three-year extension worth $35.5 million per year in March, too. And roughly 30 minutes before Bonitto’s camp Sunday, the Chiefs re-upped with George Karlaftis III on a four-year deal worth roughly $23 million a year with incentives.
Bonitto and Karlaftis hail from the same 2022 draft class. Karlaftis had eight sacks in 2024, and Bonitto racked up 13.5. It’s reasonable for Bonitto to command a larger extension than the Chiefs’ defensive end. A lengthier delay from Denver’s end risks the Cowboys slapping Parsons with a monstrous deal, further elevating Bonitto’s negotiating power.
Bonitto said those conversations, though, were being left strictly to his agent. And as Broncos training camp kicks off this week, he’s the centerpiece of a pass-rushing unit that led the league in sacks last year — and that he feels will “be even better” this fall.
He certainly can, he said, after re-watching tape from his 2024 breakout.
“Knowing how much food I left on the table, and how much better I feel like I can get in my game, I kinda wanted to address all those things in the offseason,” Bonitto said. “And just, continuously trying to be a better player each year.”
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