Sean Payton and the Walton-Penner Group have to take a stand. Are you really going to stand with Jonathon Cooper now? After this?
Cooper, the Broncos’ outside linebacker, was arrested Thursday night for the second time in a week. The 28-year-old defender, according to online records, was booked at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office detention facility on a charge of domestic violence and misdemeanor charges of harassment and violation of a protection order.
The details paint an even scarier picture. Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested last Thursday night and given a court order to stay away from one another. Records say that Cooper’s girlfriend called police Thursday, a few hours after the Broncos completed organized team activities and a week after the prior incident, to say that the Broncos edge-rusher had shown up at her apartment and knocked on the door for “five to 10 minutes.”
According to an affidavit, Cooper sent her at least 20 messages. Both were under court protection orders that forbid them from interacting, stemming from a June 4 incident in which the woman endured “strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury,” the affidavit reads.
“I started to cry and he pressed, like, further — (because) he had me held up against the wall — he just pressed further and then dropped me and just started screaming at me that it was my fault and that I, like, caused this, and that I was like, a (expletive),” she told police, according to the affidavit.
Cut him. Now.
This isn’t just about football. It’s about trust. It’s about accountability. It’s about decency. What was becoming a distraction for a franchise riding high during a championship window has taken a more awful, serious turn.
The Broncos have to ask themselves a simple question today: Which cost is greater? I Or the stain on a franchise of a story and a narrative that gets worse by the day?
For Carrie Walton-Penner and Greg Penner, this shouldn’t even be a discussion.
You move on.
Cooper isn’t just a danger to a team’s image anymore. He’s become a danger to another human being. A second arrest, and every sad, scary anecdote that’s emerged since, has removed any benefit of the doubt.
“We had a long visit with Coop,” Payton, the Broncos’ coach, said Thursday afternoon as voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) wrapped up with Cooper in attendance, ” and now the process plays out.”
And Coop did what he did anyway.
“I haven’t (talked about it with the team), and yeah, my instincts told me not to right away,” Payton continued. “(At) this time next week, we have three days of mini-camp. We’ll have a number of speakers. I think there’ll be a time, though, to talk about it.”
That time is right here. Right now. As a best-case scenario, NFL precedent suggests a hefty suspension for Cooper is coming — most likely for six games, regardless of what the courts decide.
The Post’s Luca Evans reported late Thursday night that officials added felony second-degree strangulation charges to the Broncos defender’s case. The veteran linebacker pleaded not guilty in court last week and was seen practicing this past Thursday at OTAs — the last voluntary team session before mandatory mini-camp begins Tuesday. Cooper is slated for a motions hearing on July 6, and a potential jury trial in late July.
Last year, the NFL suspended Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice six games after the wideout pled guilty to two third-degree felony charges stemming from a road-racing incident in Dallas. In 2024, the league suspended then-Arizona wideout Zay Jones for the first five games of the regular season after Jones was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in Florida. Those charges were later dropped, but the suspension wasn’t.
And when it comes to replacements, no, Von Miller isn’t necessarily the logical answer here, either.
For one, the 58 you knew and loved is Von gone. Miller hasn’t played on more than 37% of his team’s defensive snaps since 2022. Pro Football Focus hasn’t given him a grade better than 85.8 (out of 100) since 2021. PFF says The Vonster missed 20% of the tackles he attempted last fall with Washington.
The popular scouting site’s wonks pegged Miller in 2025 as a 64.4-rated defender. Which, we’ll grant you, is solid for a then-36-year-old edge guy. It’s also a drop of 21.1 points from the 85.5 overall grade Vonster collected as a member of the Buffalo Bills in 2024.
Meanwhile, Broncos linebacker Jonah Elliss is 23. PFF graded him out with a 75.8 score overall during the regular season. Elliss recorded three sacks and 18 hurries on 370 snaps, per the site’s advanced metrics, and … didn’t miss a tackle.
Dondrea Tillman is 28. PFF gave him a 68.5 overall grade, with a run-stopping grade of 72.3, which ranked 19th in the league among edge-rushers. Missed-tackle rate: 15.4%.
Que Robinson is 25. He landed a 65.4 overall PFF grade on just 163 snaps as a rookie last fall. Missed-tackle rate: 16.7%.
It’s easy to put 2 and 2 together and come up with a 58 reunion in Dove Valley.
But that’s fuzzy math.
The Broncos don’t just have cheaper, younger options than Miller. They have better ones, already on hand.
Per Spotrac.com, the Broncos, as of Friday morning, at $30.36 million. The site said Vonster was worth a 1-year, $5.8-million deal , which would certainly fit the budget.
But does he fit the building? Payton’s built a culture in Dove Valley around his image, his standard. Von takes up a lot of oxygen in any locker room he joins. But especially the one here, where 58 is already revered.
To general manager George Paton’s credit, the roster is already buffered in case of a long-term Cooper absence. We haven’t even mentioned Drew Sanders yet. And defensive coordinator Vance Joseph slathered Robinson with all kinds of love Thursday when asked about the second-year defender’s upside for 2026.
“After the season, watching the cut-ups (of game tape) … when Que played, he played really well,” Joseph said. “He looked like a guy who could be a future starter for us … so it’s our job to keep improving with Que, and get him more reps.”
If Payton is serious about accountability and trust, a window on the Broncos’ defense is about to open. A Super Bowl flag is on the ground, now, waiting for the next man to pick it up and run with it.
