Make it a double on Broncos pass-rushers winning weekly hardware.
Denver outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper was named the AFC player of the week Wednesday after racking up two of the defense’s nine sacks against the New York Jets last weekend in London.
Cooper gives the Broncos a second straight conference defensive player of the week after fellow outside linebacker Nik Bonitto won the award in Week 5 for his 2.5-sack performance at Philadelphia.
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Denver's OLB pair isn't just stacking up awards, either. They're both off to a tremendous start to the season. Most of the adulation has been directed toward Bonitto, who is an early-season favorite to win defensive player of the year and leads the NFL in both sacks (eight) and pressures (34, according to ). Cooper, however, is also playing the best football of his career.
His two sacks Sunday give him 4.5 for the season, tied for eighth in the NFL, while his 26 pressures are tied for seventh.
Cooper, 27, racked up seven pressures Sunday alone in 18 pass-rushes and, for the season, is humming along at a 19.3% pressure rate. His career-best mark for a whole season was 13.6% in 2023.
The former seventh-round pick out of Ohio State is also a top-flight run defender.
Cooper and Bonitto have combined this season for 60 quarterback pressures through six games, which is eight more than any other pair in the NFL (Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad at 52).
Cooper and Bonitto are the first Denver duo in franchise history to win AFC defensive player of the week in consecutive weeks. Cooper is the 10th Broncos defender to win the weekly award.
This story will be updated.
