If Wellesley Bush were Sean Payton, she’d have zero
tolerance for 0 in orange.
“My opinion is that no, I don’t think he should go to training camp,” Bush told me Monday when I asked about Broncos pass-rusher Jonathon Cooper. “I think he should be suspended, pending the outcome of his trial.”
Broncos veterans report to Dove Valley for training camp on Tuesday, and Bush is a little torn. Not on Bo Nix. Not on the Broncos repeating as AFC West champs. Or reaching the Super Bowl. Heck, no. It figures to be an awesome, wild ride.
But where she draws the line is whether she wants Cooper to be part of the journey. The outside linebacker, No. 0 in orange, currently faces a felony charge of second-degree assault by strangulation and three misdemeanors, including violating a protection order, following two arrests in June. Cooper is slated to be arraigned on Aug. 31 — two weeks before a Week 1 showdown in Kansas City.
Bush has been a proud Broncos season ticket holder since 1996, orange and blue from head to toe. She’s also a partner and community outreach manager at
“Does that complicate things?” I wondered.
“I don’t see it as all that complicated,” Bush replied.
“You can’t do that to another human being. It’s not OK. Whether it’s about money or how good someone is as a player, it’s not OK. You don’t make an excuse for that.”
It’s an uncomfortable conversation, and Bush isn’t the only one in apountry who’s having it this summer. Two of the biggest questions swirling around training camp revolve around Cooper, the 28-year-old defender who had averaged nine sacks over the past three seasons. One, will he play at all in 2026? And two, more to the point, should he?
Women’s Foundation of Colorado President and CEO Renee Ferrufino emailed a statement to me Monday in which she said, “The Women’s Foundation of Colorado believes organizations with the visibility of the Denver Broncos must send a clear message that survivor safety and accountability are the priority, not just the roster. … While we won’t weigh in on any one player’s career, we encourage the Broncos to be transparent about how they’re approaching this and actively support survivors in our community. For anyone in the Denver area affected by domestic violence, the Rose Andom Center is a resource we trust, offering everything from safety planning to legal advocacy under one roof.”
The 6-foot-4 Ohio native was arrested twice last month, during the end of the Broncos’ spring calendar, just before mini-camp. Both Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested following a June 4 incident. Cooper was arrested again on June 12 on charges of harassment and violating a protection order.
The felony second-degree assault by strangulation charge was added by the district attorney’s office after a forensic examination by a nurse at Anschutz Medical Center. Per a police affidavit, the nurse concluded that Cooper’s girlfriend endured “strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury” with “substantial risk of death.”
“Of course we have our hometown pride in the Broncos and obviously want them to do well and don’t want anything to interfere with that,” added Natasha Adler, Andom Center’s program director. “And I think this goes a little bit beyond (that).”
There’s a human element here, first and foremost. Adler said studies show that when one partner strangles another, the likelihood of a victim being killed by that partner goes up 750%.
“So to give this person a platform,” Adler said. “To say … ‘you made a mistake and you can still continue to do your job and represent this team and this city on a wide platform and everything that comes with it,’ I think, would be grossly irresponsible.”
The Andom Center became the first integrated domestic violence services facility in the Front Range when it opened in 2016. Its on-site government partnerships include liaisons with Colorado Legal Services, the Denver City Attorney’s office, the Denver District Attorney’s office and the Denver Police Department’s Domestic Violence Investigation Unit, Sex Crimes Investigation Unit and Victim Assistance Unit. Bush joined the center roughly a year ago after three decades as a probation officer.
“One of the most significant things I took away from being a probation officer … is that accountability is key in helping an offender be responsible for their behavior,” Bush said, “and for potentially changing their behavior. Accountability is an important piece to learning how to not repeat behaviors. It really is significant.”
If that feels like zero tolerance for No. 0, consider this: An Ipsos poll last September revealed that 41% of American women are NFL fans. What would playing Cooper say to them?
“As a female football fan, you do have to kind of step back and sometimes think about some of this stuff … how far do you go in your support?” Bush asked. “And I’ve supported (the Broncos) for a long time.
“(People) should be given the (chance) to go to trial and prove themselves. But what we know is, there are certain behaviors that are very dangerous in domestic violence. I think the NFL has such a significant and large platform that they could do a lot to educate and to make a really strong stance to the effect that violence against anyone that’s not on the football field is not acceptable. … And the Denver Broncos could do that as well and really make a powerful statement that, ‘No, this is not acceptable. No matter how fantastic you are as a football player.’ ”
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