Buffalo Bills

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 10-1; Over-under win total: 10.5

Strengths: Josh Allen has won the most regular-season games (83) since 2019 and has an argument for being the No. 1 quarterback in the league. His 301 total touchdowns is the most since 2016, even though Allen’s debut came two years later. James Cook led the NFL in rushing yards last year. When healthy, there is star power on the defense, which now includes former Broncos first-round pick Bradley Chubb. The Bills have won this division five straight years.

Weaknesses: There’s a lot of uncertainty for a Super Bowl contender, starting with a new head coach (Joe Brady), a new defensive coordinator (Jim Leonhard) and a new look on defense (3-4, after years in a 4-2-5). D.J. Moore was a big offseason addition, but the wide receiver corps could still be an issue. The rush defense was a significant problem last season — Buffalo allowed the fifth-most yards and tied for the most rushing touchdowns.

New England Patriots

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 20-1; Over-under win total: 10.5

Strengths: Drake Maye finished second in league MVP voting in just his second season. He led the NFL in quarterback rating and yards per passing attempt. Maye’s leading receiver, Stephon Diggs, is gone, but A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs arrive to join tight end Hunter Henry and give Maye a high-end set of targets. The defense allowed the fourth-fewest points last year and added first-team All-Pro Kevin Byard III in the secondary.

Weaknesses: It’s been … let’s call it an eventful offseason away from the field for the Patriots and coach Mike Vrabel. New England was a surprise participant in Super Bowl LX, and even the high-profile additions of Brown and Byard might not prevent some regression. One big reason? The schedule is going to be much tougher.

New York Jets

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 250-1; Over-under win total: 5.5

Strengths: Garrett Wilson is one of the best wide receivers in the league and a pair of first-round picks — tight end Kenyon Sadiq and wideout Omar Cooper Jr. — could give the Jets an exciting collection of pass catchers. Breece Hall is a solid, versatile running back who could get some help if a young offensive line improves.

Weaknesses: Geno Smith had a bad year with Las Vegas while his former team won the Super Bowl, but now he’s back with the franchise that drafted him. He’s 35 years old, and it could go sideways if the line struggles. The Jets allowed 503 points last year. The pass rush could be fun with No. 2 overall pick David Bailey joining Will McDonald IV, but other teams will likely continue to find joy against this defense. Expect Jets fans to be dreaming of Arch Manning, Dante Moore or one of the other top quarterback prospects in the 2027 NFL draft.

Miami Dolphins

BetMGM says: Win Super Bowl: 500-1; Over-under win total: 4.5

Strengths: A lack of expectations? Does that count? The Dolphins are in full-fledged rebuilding mode. There’s a new general manager, a new head coach and a new quarterback. Malik Willis showed some promise as the No. 2 behind Jordan Love in Green Bay. The Dolphins need Willis and De’Von Achane to be a dynamic duo.

Weaknesses: Linebacker Jordyn Brooks earned All-Pro honors with a league-leading 183 tackles. He had a lot of cleaning up to do. There are intriguing young players on defense, but it could be a long year for the defense. With Jaylen Waddle in Denver and Tyreek Hill released after a severe knee injury last year, Willis might be working with the worst group of receivers in the league. Achane led the Dolphins in receptions last yea, and would be a solid bet to do it again.

There is your answer to upgrading the Broncos. You’re welcome.

A month removed from the AFC Championship loss — wasn’t that a kick in the groin instead of through the uprights — the facts remain clear. Denver is not reaching the Super Bowl or winning it without more weapons around Bo Nix.

Who better for the former Oregon Duck to throw to than Waddle?

Saying it inspires grins. Seeing him in the offense would create cheers.

Time for general manager George Paton to pick up the phone and call the Dolphins. Miami is hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL, cutting former star receiver Tyreek Hill, edge rusher Bradley Chubb and two other players last week.

If new coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan want to tear it down, the Broncos would be foolish not to check in. Again.

Denver kicked the tires on Waddle at the trade deadline last October, along with multiple teams.

The feeling then, under old management, was that the Dolphins were not interested in making a deal, whether it was the Broncos, Bills or someone else. Reports indicated the Dolphins wanted a first-round pick included. That is unreasonable for a receiver in a league where the draft cranks out a battery of contributors every year.

But Waddle is worth acquiring. Offer Troy Franklin and a third and a fifth-round pick. If the call does not drop, persist. Don’t want Franklin? How about outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman?

Waddle would finally solve the Broncos’ WR2 problem.

Check that, he could give them 1A and 1B options when paired with Courtland Sutton. Sutton has become to Nix what a blanket is to Linus. Too often, he only has eyes for him on third down.

Waddle would pull coverage away from Sutton. Give Nix a legitimate alternative, sometimes even one who can stretch the field.

Can you imagine? The notion of Waddle in orange creates goosebumps.

We only see a deep threat on the random weeks that Marvin Mims Jr. is viewed as a receiver and not a gadget player.

Consider this: Sutton has posted a 17-game average of 71 catches, 957 yards and eight touchdowns over the past three seasons. Waddle counters at 73, 1,008, and five. They both average 13.4 yards per reception.

Two is better than one.

And for those who believe the answer is in-house with Franklin, here is my push back. Yes, no player improved more year-over -year than the former Oregon standout. But he was not dynamic.

Of the 28 receivers with 100-plus targets last season, only one finished with fewer yards than Franklin (709), per Pro Football Reference. That was Jerry Jeudy.

OK, that is a little funny. But Jeudy has an explanation. He played with every quarterback but Brian Sipe last season.

Franklin averaged 6.8 yards on his 104 targets, ranking 26th of 28. And his 48.1% success rate was 24th.

He will get better, but not quickly enough in the Broncos’ Super Bowl window. There is a saying in sports: the time to rebuild was last year. And the time to go for it is this year.

The Broncos are in position with an elite defense coached by Vance Joseph and Nix on his rookie contract. Franklin, 23, might figure it out. But realistically, he will blossom in his fourth or fifth season. That is too late.

Waddle, 27, is ready to meet the moment.

Why not pursue the Eagles’ A.J. Brown? Some in ����apountry are already attracted to him like a compass needle is to a magnet.

This scenario was presented by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently. He suggested the Broncos trade cornerback Riley Moss, a second-round pick, and a fifth-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Brown and a future fifth-round selection.

Brown is better than Waddle. But he is also a drama llama.

He never seems happy, even though he won a Super Bowl in 2025 and is a central focus of the offense. The Broncos pursued Stefon Diggs last offseason, and he exhibits diva traits. But that was before Denver agreed to a contract extension with Sutton.

Would Sean Payton risk adding Brown to the mix?

He is fond of saying that he owes it to the locker room to bring in good fits. Not sure there would be a more volatile ingredient than Brown, his production be damned.

Owner Greg Penner echoed the same sentiments as the coach, saying at the end of the year press conference, “It really starts with the culture of toughness, resiliency and grit that Sean has instilled into this group and having the right players here.”

That doesn’t sound like Brown. Perhaps new intel emerges at the NFL combine this week, and we can revisit the 28-year-old’s availability.

For now, Waddle makes more sense.

And let’s be fair, a running back makes the most sense because it is more straightforward, involving no draft pick compensation, just a routing number to a bank account in free agency for Breece Hall, Kenneth Walker and Travis Etienne Jr.

Any of those three would provide a boost for an offense that finished in the top third in three-and-out drives the past two seasons.

They have performed when everyone expects them to. And, in the case of Walker, he performed when the whole world was watching.

Once J.K. Dobbins succumbed to injury, the Broncos became unbalanced and too tentative. Denver turtled its way to season-ending victories over the Chiefs and Chargers against backup quarterbacks.

A more explosive offense will lead to more leads and takeaways.

In Indianapolis, the Broncos will likely try to sell us on the idea that if they fail to acquire a weapon, it will be no water off their back. Don’t fall for it.

The Broncos must add. If it is a receiver, make it Waddle. Or be prepared to duck and cover.

All around the high school junior, postgame festivities buzzed Wednesday night on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turf.

More than 100 players and coaches milled around, found their people, gathered into groups for photos and then dispersed. Players from St. Thomas Aquinas High in South Florida and the London-based NFL Academy introduced themselves, talked about a wild game just completed and what a night it had been in the massive stadium.

Gamble laughed with teammates and took in the scene.

Then, through the crowd, he spotted the man he’d been looking for.

Big Nik.

That����ap Nik Bonitto, collector of an ever-growing list of descriptors, hardware and status.

A St. Thomas Aquinas alumn himself. Broncos outside linebacker. $106 million man. Budding superstar. Early defensive player of the year frontrunner. And the best pass-rusher on the planet, according to his teammates.

None of that, though, is why Gamble was so happy to see Bonitto on a chance encounter 4,500 miles from Fort Lauderdale.

“���’s basically an idol to me,” Gamble told The Denver Post.

Bonitto’s been that for Gamble, his self-described “godbrother,” for many years.

Much more recently, the Broncos pass-rusher has become many things to many people.

That����ap what happens when your star takes off like a rocket ship.

It can be disorienting. Foundation-shaking. Path and process-diverting.

It can be just straight-up mind-boggling.

Just three years ago, Bonitto came here as a wayward Broncos rookie. He logged his first sack at Wembley Stadium and celebrated so hard everything “went black,” he said with a laugh this week. Then he returned to having minimal impact, losing playing time and confidence in concert, and wondering exactly how his career might shift out of neutral.

Now, on his return to London, full-circle moments abound.

On Wednesday, Bonitto talked with teammates about that first sack while sitting on a franchise record-tying streak of three straight games of multiple sacks.

He found out he’d been named AFC defensive player of the week for the first time after racking up 2.5 sacks against Philadelphia in Week 5.

Then he got in a car after a day’s worth of practice and meetings, arrived at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, walked into the building past a massive photo of himself adorning a wall, down a tunnel and onto the field where his alma mater was playing a football game.

“Life’s definitely changed a little bit,” Bonitto told The Post, “but my approach is still the same.”

‘Big Nik’

Bonitto’s not wild about the spotlight.

���’s not averse to it. He just doesn’t seek it.

Put him on a field full of high school players, though, and he’s right at home.

After STA held off the NFL Academy, 41-38, on Wednesday night, Bonitto and teammates Jonathon Cooper and Delarrin Turner-Yell casually chatted and took photos with anybody who approached them.

“It����ap been real cool, just knowing that I was in their shoes once,” Bonitto said. “I would see all the older guys going off to college and doing great things. I would think, ‘Damn, I want to be like that.’ So just trying to lead in that way and show them that it����ap possible because it very much is for them.

“They have all the talent and the tools necessary to do what they want to do.”

Four-star outside linebacker , over the summer. When he did, Bonitto reached out and congratulated him.

“It����ap inspirational, first off,” Norman said. “And it����ap showing what I can be and what lies ahead of me.”

Gamble and Bonitto go back much further than that.

Their dads were close friends. Bonitto’s father, Vince, is Gamble’s godfather. Gamble’s dad is Bonitto’s godfather.

When Bonitto was a senior in high school, his parents “separated for a bit,” he said. So he and his dad moved in with the Gambles.

Bonitto was doing then what Gamble is doing now: Playing high school football at a high level and sorting through college options. Gamble is considered a four-star prospect in the 2027 class and holds offers from the likes of Miami, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M and many others.

“That����ap my guy since I was real young,” Bonitto said. “Obviously, he’s younger than me, but just being able to know him and then see him grow into where he’s at now, being in high school and getting all these offers and stuff, it’s pretty cool.”

Bonitto’s grown, too, even since the last time they saw each other last summer.

“It����ap kind of cool seeing somebody I grew up in the same house with become one of the projected defensive player of the year candidates,” Gamble said. “It����ap really crazy. But at the end of the day, he’s still just Nik Bonitto in my eyes.

“… I don’t see him as a superstar like everybody sees him. I see him as one of my big brothers. It����ap cool that he has all these accolades, but I still see him as ‘Big Nik.’”

Humble and humbled

Gamble’s not alone.

While the rest of the world might see Bonitto as one of the NFL’s up-and-coming stars, seemingly everybody in Bonitto’s world sees him as just about anything but.

Presented with the notion that Bonitto is arriving at true star status recently, Broncos defensive line coach and former OU assistant Jamar Cain agreed, but with a twist.

“My daughter always says, ‘Nik’s been my favorite player for years, Dad. So I don’t see him as that,’” Cain said. “And for me, it����ap wild because I don’t see him as a superstar either. I remember him as a 17-year-old kid that we damn near wanted to kick off the team at Oklahoma.”

Back then, Bonitto arrived at college as a teenager who had a lot to learn. About discipline, about going to class, about how to be a good football player and also a good teammate.

He also had a lot of work to do physically.

“I would always joke with Nik in college, like, ‘Bro, you cannot be 200 pounds and not have abs,’” longtime trainer and mentor Javon Gopie said. “He wasn’t a super chiseled guy. He was just a guy. Most people who saw him then wouldn’t have thought much.”

Bonitto blossomed into a high-quality college player and a likely Day 2 dFL Draft pick. He told scouts and general managers, who largely worried about his size and ability to play against the run, that he wanted to win Super Bowls and someday don a gold jacket at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Broncos general manager George Paton and company were thrilled to land him at No. 64 overall in the second round of the 2022 draft, but Bonitto started his career slowly under a doomed Nathaniel Hackett-led coaching staff.

“When he was a rookie here, I was still coaching in college and we’d talk periodically,” Cain said. “He’d call and I’d pull up his film and I’d be like, ‘Bro, what the (heck) are you doing? You look awful.’ It����ap, like, embarrassing. I told him, like, ‘I feel embarrassed I told the Broncos to (freaking) take you. You look awful.’”

Midway through the season came the sack in London. Two days later, Denver traded star edge rusher Bradley Chubb.

Dominoes started slowly tipping.

Bonitto had arrived in Denver thanks to one of the picks acquired in the Von Miller trade. The first-rounder Chubb netted helped the Broncos land the rights to head coach Sean Payton.

He brought a culture of discipline, and he also hired Cain.

“When I first got here in the spring (of 2023), I was like, ‘Dude, this is not the player that I know,’” Cain said. “So it was him just building confidence. I remember having a conversation with George when I first got here about when Nik was at Oklahoma, it took like two years for him to get comfortable in his skin and comfortable in the environment. Once he got comfortable, he took off. That����ap what happened in Year 3 here. Once he got comfortable in his environment, he took off.”

‘All-time high’

Bonitto’s on-field exploits are obvious at this point.

He leads the NFL with seven sacks, 1.5 more than anybody else, and the most by a Broncos player ever through the first five games of a season.

���’s terrorizing tackles with speed, anticipation and savvy, but he’s also playing the run better than at any point in his career.

Teammates and coaches are asked on a weekly basis to try to find some new way of describing what Bonitto is doing, and at this point, simplicity does the job best.

“If he gets a one-on-one, he’s winning,” defensive tackle Zach Allen said.

Payton? “���’s a super pass-rusher.”

“You know his game has developed when he can go out there and just say, ‘I’m going to make a play’ and he makes it,” reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II said. “It����ap just that easy now.”

There are plenty of reasons for the ascension. Bonitto’s bigger and stronger. ���’s developed his pass-rush repertoire. ���’s become a student of the game, internalizing opposing quarterbacks’ cadences and searching for tackles’ tendencies.

But there’s a more basic factor, too.

“His confidence is just at an all-time high right now, man,” Gopie said. “I love it for him. I don’t think it had to do with anything outside of himself. I don’t think there were any external factors that needed to motivate him. ���’s just confident.”

No more Costco

The explosion of attention and a fresh $100 million-plus extension will change life for a 26-year-old.

Fast.

“He used to be able to go to Costco,” Cain said. “Now he can’t go to Costco.”

Those closest to Bonitto, though, don’t see any change in the person.

“He hasn’t changed — he’s become more of a professional, but he hasn’t changed at all,” his running mate Cooper said. “I can’t say enough good things about him, honestly. ���’s a brother, and he’s somebody I’ve been rooting for since he got in this league. We’ve grown together and we’ve created this bond together and everything he’s getting, all the accolades, I couldn’t be more proud.”

Surtain experienced something similar a year ago.

He had already been a first-team All-Pro, but in 2024 he was named defensive player of the year and became a bold-face name in the league. What followed, as he described it, was his busiest offseason to date.

“I think it����ap natural once you play good, you get that recognition and you get that certain amount of status,” Surtain said. “There’s a way how to handle it. You just keep being yourself, be humble about it and understand that all of this is based on your play.

“The way he’s transcending, he’s going to be even more popular as things go on. His approach is just to be humble about it and to give it back toward his play.”

Toward his play and toward his people.

Bonitto , following several Broncos luminaries like Surtain, Miller and Justin Simmons.

He decided during a busy week amid a long road trip to go see Gamble and his high school play.

“It����ap literally priceless. It really is,” longtime STA coach Roger Harriott said. “You can’t put any value on that. It����ap worth beyond currency. ���’s somebody that others look toward and for them to have a direct connection and feel his presence, knowing that he wore the same uniform and came from the same area, it����ap an inspiration to these young men to think that somebody who walked the same hallways and is from their community is having an unbelievable experience.

“That����ap what allows other people to evolve and do extraordinary things.”

Bonitto himself is evolving and doing extraordinary things.

His first and second London trips are separated by three years, 28.5 sacks and what must feel like an Atlantic Ocean of change.

His high school days are not that far in the past, and yet he’s already become a symbol for what����ap possible.

���’s a household name, and yet he’s also still just Big Nik.

“All the stuff I’ve done and accomplished so far has been really cool,” Bonitto said, “But there’s so much more out there for me and for this team that we’re still trying to accomplish.”

More than 24 hours into the draft he still hadn’t heard his name called.

Cain, however, sensed good news on the horizon for Bonitto, whom he viewed like a son after coaching him for two seasons at Oklahoma.

“I was telling everybody, ‘Nik is either going to the 49ers or the Broncos,’ because those were two teams that just kept calling me, like, ‘Hey, tell me about Nik,’” Cain told The Denver Post.

As the second round drew to a close, San Francisco took USC outside linebacker Drake Jackson. Three picks later, the Broncos took Bonitto with the 64th overall pick.

Fitting, given what Bonitto has become — and where that pick came from in the first place.

In November 2021, the Broncos traded franchise icon and future Hall of Fame edge rusher Von Miller to the Los Angeles Rams for second- and third-round picks in the following spring’s draft. The second-rounder — No. 64 overall — was then used to usher in a new era of Broncos pass rushers six months later.

It just took three years for that destiny to be realized.

Now, with Bonitto fresh off his first Pro Bowl season and Miller in Buffalo after signing with the Bills in 2022, the Broncos’ past and future will clash Sunday in the AFC wild-card round. Growing up, Bonitto looked up to Miller. Now, he’s positioned to create his own legacy in orange and blue.

“I told myself that I want to be able to prove Denver right in why they picked me,” said Bonitto, who notched 13.5 sacks this season — the most by a Bronco in a season since Miller collected 14.5 in 2018. “I always had that chip on my shoulder.”

While Miller and Bonitto will forever be linked by the trade that sent one away from Denver and eventually brought the other to Mile High, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph isn’t quite ready to make comparisons.

Joseph said Bonitto has traits similar to Miller’s. The next step is playing at a high level on an annual basis — something Miller has accomplished as an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, two-time Super Bowl champion and three-time first-team All-Pro.

For that to happen, Bonitto will have to continue to produce in the face of increased attention, NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said. That means more double teams, chips from running backs and other tricks teams employ to keep pass rushers away from their quarterback.

“All the things they do to great pass rushers in this business, he’s going to start getting that now,” Baldinger told The Post. “Can you beat that? Can you do what (Raiders edge rusher) Maxx Crosby and other guys have done?”

Cain knew Bonitto had the traits to be an elite pass rusher. It only took Bonitto to believe in himself.

When Cain became Oklahoma’s outside linebackers coach in 2020, Bonitto — who totaled 3.5 sacks the previous season — was quiet and unsure of his talent.

“I was still kind of raw,” Bonitto said. “(Cain) helped me out a lot whether it was watching (film) or giving me different pass rush moves that complement my game.”

The start of the 2020 season was underwhelming. Bonitto had six tackles and no sacks through three games. Cain wondered when Bonitto would find his rhythm — a question that was answered in a 53-45 win over Texas when he recorded two sacks.

Bonitto took off from that point. He finished the year with 32 tackles (10.5 for loss) and eight sacks in 10 starts and was named ​​second-team All-American by the Associated Press. The following year, Bonitto registered seven sacks and 39 tackles, and was a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award given to the defensive player of the year in college football.

“Nik’s growth has been tremendous,” Cain said. “From getting him to understand his potential to becoming an All-American, he’s just sticking with the process.”

In 2023, Cain and Bonitto reunited once again. The Broncos hired Cain to be a pass-rush specialist after serving as a defensive line coach and run game coordinator for LSU in 2022. At the time, Bonitto was coming off a disappointing rookie year in which he totaled 1.5 sacks in 15 games (one start).

“I remember telling (general manager) George (Paton) when I first got here, ‘(���’s) going to come around,’” said Cain, who’s now Denver’s defensive line coach.

Bonitto made progress in 2023, recording eight sacks. However, he was limited to playing on third downs due to his struggles defending against the run. That became a point of emphasis in the offseason and he came back to Denver a different player this summer.

He finished the regular season with the third-most sacks in the league, ahead of star edge rushers like Dallas’ Micah Parsons and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt. He matched Miller by recording a sack in six straight games, the longest such streak in franchise history. And he and Jonathon Cooper (10.5) became the first Broncos to record double-digit sacks in a season since Miller and Bradley Chubb in 2018.

Add it all up, and Bonitto was instrumental to the Broncos setting a new franchise single-season sack record with 63.

The last time the Broncos recorded at least 50 sacks in a season? Back in 2015, when they won Super Bowl 50 with Miller as the game’s MVP.

Before Denver took his protégé, Cain said he answered calls from at least 15 Denver staff members about Bonitto. “I was like ‘Guys, just take him. I put my job on the line,’” he recalled.

Three seasons later, Cain is beaming.

“Paton got a steal,” he said.

After producing a winning record and a playoff berth, Nix burst the thought bubble hanging over the franchise’s head since the 2018 draft.

Should the Broncos have selected Wyoming star quarterback Josh Allen instead of defensive end Bradley Chubb? Six years later, Nix has exorcised those demons. Broncos fans no longer thirst for Allen or live in a world of 20-20 hindsight vision.

What is easier to believe: that Nix or Allen will win a Super Bowl first? It should be Allen. It is not a certainty. He has reached one conference championship in his first six seasons. Could Nix, with a better head coach, catch and pass him?

It is not as crazy as it sounds, and even the suggestion is soothing, explaining how important Nix has become for Denver.

As the Broncos prepare to face Allen, they have their guy. Nix is the first rookie to post four games with at least three touchdowns and 75 percent completions. No Broncos quarterback has logged stats like this since the salad days of Peyton Manning.

Since 2016, the Broncos have had seven different Week 1 starters in nine seasons. Nix pulled the emergency brake on the carousel, stopping the wandering eye of the team and its fans.

Nix has made it possible to forget — or at least tuck away on a zip drive — the worst pass in John Elway’s career. As general manager he liked Allen, but he boxed himself in by giving Case Keenum a two-year contract before the draft. And it was an open secret that if Elway took a quarterback, he wanted USC’s Sam Darnold, having cooled on Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.

With Darnold and Saquon Barkley off the board — the running back was Denver’s highest-graded player — Elway returned to the defensive strategy that won Super Bowl 50, adding a disruptive edge player in Chubb. So sold the Broncos were on Chubb, Elway rebuffed a trade proposal from the Bills, who offered the 12th, 22nd and 53rd picks to move up for Allen. Buffalo found a taker in Tampa Bay to get the quarterback seventh overall.

As Chubb’s career became defined by injuries, this move became a gnawing pain for ����apountry, if not Elway. He expressed regret this spring over the decision.

“That was probably my biggest mistake of my GM days, not taking Josh,” Elway said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast.

But let����ap be fair. It was not like there was a groundswell from fans to select Allen, beyond Wyoming boosters.

History has simplified this story into a single blunder, choosing one player over another. Truth is, it was layered because of Keenum, because of Paxton Lynch’s recent failure, because Darnold was preferred over Allen. Even if the Broncos had selected Allen, who made it clear he wanted to be a Bronco during the pre-draft process, I am not convinced he could have overcome Elway’s impatience and Denver’s coaching dysfunction.

Would Allen have progressed under Bill Musgrave, Rich Scangarello or Pat Shurmur — the Broncos offensive coordinators in 2018-2020 — like he did under Brian Daboll? No chance. Would he have become Captain America and the MVP favorite player we see now? Nope.

After embarrassing the Broncos in 2020, Allen admitted that Buffalo “is where I am supposed to be.” I believe that. He was destined to be the next Jim Kelly, not John Elway.

Likewise, Nix is the fit in Denver. The beauty of this season is that there is no reason to play what if? Not anymore. Allen trumps Nix. We get it.

But Nix is the maestro of Sean Payton’s offense. While Pat Surtain II is the Broncos’ best player, Nix is the face of the franchise. He impresses teammates with his work ethic, while blending humility with confidence. The Broncos reached the postseason with limited offensive weapons and $91 million in dead cap money.

Not only will Nix get better, but he is way ahead of where Allen was as a rookie. While he lacks Allen’s size and arm strength, Nix has exceeded expectations. He throws harder than we thought, runs faster than we witnessed in college and, after a clumsy start to his career, bows to few quarterbacks statistically, even Allen.

Over his last 13 games, Nix boasts 31 touchdowns (28 passing, two rushing, one receiving), eight interceptions and a 68.3 completion percentage. During this same stretch Allen has accounted for 31 touchdowns (21 passing, 10 rushing), six picks and a 62 completion percentage.

Rather than put a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, the Broncos confronted a serious problem with a grown-up solution.

We have reached the point with Nix that we trust him, we believe he will play well. It doesn’t mean he will — his first playoff game in Buffalo where the Bills are undefeated this season is a daunting task — but that is the assumption. I want to see how he handles this. ����apountry is intrigued, not required to watch through scary movie fingers.

This is not to suggest Nix is better than Allen. He is not. What it says is that the Broncos finally have a quarterback good enough to make everyone stop wringing their hands about what could have been.

“Sixty-(three)? That����ap unheard of,” Surtain said. “Credit to (the defensive line). They get after the quarterback. It makes our job in the back end much easier, knowing the guys up front generate pressures and sacks.”

Denver recorded the 14th-most sacks in a single season after notching five in its 38-0 win over the Chiefs at home on Sunday. It was the sixth game the Broncos recorded at least five sacks.

The Broncos set the franchise record for most sacks in a season after adding seven last week at Cincinnati. They added to their total Sunday with the help of outside linebackers Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper — fitting given the success both players have had this season.

Cooper sacked Chiefs quarterback Carson Wentz for a 4-yard loss late in the second quarter. Bonitto, who was named to his first Pro Bowl on Thursday, notched two sacks to help the Broncos end their eight-year playoff drought.

Cooper finished the season with 10.5 sacks while Bonitto ended up among the league leaders with 13. The last time Denver had two players record double-digit sacks in a season was in 2018 with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb.

In addition to five sacks against the Chiefs, the Broncos recorded 17 pressures.

“They were a difference-maker this season,” safety P.J. Locke said. “These dudes are unbelievable and always hungry.”

Broncos defensive tackle Malcolm Roach exuded confidence when talking postgame about next week’s matchup against the Bills in the Wild Card round. Even though Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is playing at an MVP level, and is protected by one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, Roach believes the team’s ability to rush the passer gives them a fighting chance.

“Whenever you can affect the passer and protect our passer, you have a chance,” Roach said.

Defensive tackle Zach Allen, who finished the season with 8.5 sacks, pointed out that six Broncos had five-plus sacks and 16 ended up with at least a half sack.

“It really is a special group and the fact that it����ap across the board,” defensive tackle Zach Allen said.  “They genuinely care about each other’s success. … It����ap not like that everywhere, so it����ap pretty special to be part of a group like that.”

Marvelous Marvin. The late-season surge for second-year wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. continued Sunday.

Mims capped Denver’s first touchdown drive with a 32-yard screen pass from rookie quarterback Bo Nix and added a 7-yard touchdown catch in the flat late in the third quarter.

Over the Broncos’ past two games, Mims racked up 13 catches on 13 targets for 154 yards and four touchdowns.

Those two games tripled Mims’ career touchdown total from two to six.

For the season, Mims caught 39 passes for 502 yards. All but seven of those catches came in Denver’s final eight games.

“We’re young and we’re hungry,” Mims said. “As hungry as we are, we’re willing to go anywhere to go get it. We’ve battled all year. What sense does it make to stop now?”

Sacks trump all.

Sacks get you noticed. Sacks get you accolades.

Sacks get you paid.

It����ap ironic, then, that amid a breakout season, perhaps no play signifies Nik Bonitto’s growth better than one in which he did something antithetical to sacking the quarterback.

He ran the other way.

In the first quarter last Sunday against Las Vegas, the Raiders were backed up deep and faced third-and-11 from their own 7-yard line.

That����ap hunting territory for a young pass-rusher. Bonitto undoubtedly wanted to make a game-tilting play against the Raiders and quarterback Gardner Minshew.

Instead, he made a heady one. The knockout blow came later.

Bonitto tore up the field on a rush but saw left tackle Kolton Miller release out of the corner of his eye. He spun on a dime, sensing screen, and raced out toward the Raiders’ trio of receivers. Bonitto’s angle put him right in the throw’s path, resulting in an incompletion.

It may not seem like a big deal, but there’s a reason that mention of that particular sequence brought a smile to Bonitto’s face in the locker room this week.

Rookie-year Nik Bonitto? No way he makes that read. In 2022 he’d have raced at the quarterback and then hoped his teammates made the play behind him.

“Oh yeah, no. I was like a blind dog,” Bonitto told The Denver Post. “See ball, get ball. I was just trying to run fast to wherever I saw the ball. I would not have made those types of plays, for sure.”

Third-year Nik Bonitto not only has 10 sacks, he’s made this type of play much more consistently.

“It����ap just maturity,” outside linebackers coach Michael Wilhoite told The Post. “It����ap maturity in ‘I’m not playing for me. I’m playing for everybody else and for my teammates.’ It����ap maturity in, ‘I’m not just going to run up the field and run at the quarterback. I’m going to feel the play and I feel this tackle leave, it must be a screen.’

“The maturity to turn and run full speed and do it hard.”

Bonitto has 10 sacks in the Broncos’ past 10 games. ���’s the first Denver defender since 2018 to hit double-digit sacks and he’s shown no signs of slowing down with five games left on the docket.

His ability to affect opposing quarterbacks is going to make him a candidate for a massive contract sometime in the next 12 months. The growth in all of the other areas of his game, however, is why he’s found himself here in the first place.

“Special ability”

Bonitto’s a natural-born pass-rusher.

It����ap how he made his name in college at Oklahoma and it����ap why the Broncos selected him No. 64 overall in the 2022 draft.

“We thought Nik was one of the better pass-rushers coming out,” general manager George Paton said that night. “The bend, the speed, the burst. Very natural.”

He showed it in flashes over the course of his rookie season, but saw his playing time drop in the middle of the year and finished with 1.5 sacks while playing about 35% of Denver’s defensive snaps.

“I was still kind of raw coming in,” he said. “I knew I had some ability but also knew I had things to work on.”

After Sean Payton got the job and put together his defensive staff in the winter of 2023, Bonitto had new coaches sizing him up.

New defensive coordinator Vance Joseph knew him from draft prep in Arizona, where he’d held the same title.

“We saw the special ability,” Joseph said. “You’re always chasing pass rushers in a 3-4 defense. This kid was a natural rusher in college. Coming here his rookie year, you could see the traits.”

Wilhoite had been in the division with the Los Angeles Chargers but coaching inside linebackers.

He saw ability, too, but also something else.

“I thought he was talented but just didn’t have a vision for himself and didn’t have a direction for himself, didn’t really know where he wanted to go yet,” Wilhoite said. “That might not even be right. Could be completely false. It was just the way I perceived him based on what I had seen.”

Bonitto felt the same way. He was unsure and channeled it by being over-eager to rush. He knew he wasn’t a great run defender, so he tried to over-compensate.

Under Wilhoite and Joseph, he took a big jump in 2023. His playing time ticked up to more than half, he recorded 8.5 sacks and he played better against the run.

In Year 3, the results are even better across the board.

Bonitto didn’t start the Broncos’ opener and played just 34% of the defensive snaps but saw his playing time jump immediately when Baron Browning got hurt Week 2 against Pittsburgh.

Since then, Bonitto’s played 60% or more six times in 11 games — not Jonathon Cooper-level playing time, but substantial. Bonitto only hit 60% once in the second half of last year after Browning returned from a knee injury.

“The more you can play, the more chance you have to rush,” Joseph said. “If you’re only a DPR (designated pass-rusher), we can’t play you every down.  As Nik improves, he’s gotten strong in the run game. ���’s playing the run very well. That����ap allowed him to have more rushes. Being a firmer player on the edge has allowed him to rush more often.

“Now his special trait has shown, and that����ap pass-rushing.”

Indeed, Bonitto recently had a stretch where he registered a pressure rate north of 20% four straight games, and he’s recorded a sack in nine of the Broncos’ past 10.

“���’s free to just roll”

Bonitto’s highlight-reel moment against Las Vegas came in the fourth quarter with the Broncos leading by seven.

He started with his most trusted asset: Among rushers with 30-plus pressures this season, Bonitto’s average get-off (reaction time for pass-rushers after a snap) of .75 seconds is tied for fifth-fastest, according to Next Gen Stats. But he identified his angle and adjusted mid-rush, driving through Miller and walking him back into quarterback Desmond Ridder with a power move.

STRIP-SACK, NIK BONITTO

: CBS

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos)

The ball popped free and defensive lineman Malcolm Roach jumped on it.

Roach after the game called Bonitto one of the game’s best rushers and added, “���’s so nonchalant about it. The game comes so easy for him.”

That smooth operating, though, makes it easy to perhaps gloss over a part of Bonitto that Wilhoite has come to appreciate.

“Nik takes everything to heart,” he said. “Nik wants to be the best at everything he does. And when I say best, I don’t mean ‘better than him.’ I mean he wants to be the best that he can be at everything.”

The more the coaching staff gave him to work on, the more his development accelerated.

The same goes for leadership.

“Something that people don’t talk enough about with Nik is how unselfish he is and how much he wants his teammates to do well,” Wilhoite said. “His standard for himself right now is performing at a high level for my guys, for my teammates.”

When Bonitto was drafted, the Broncos had Bradley Chubb and Randy Gregory as their top pair. Then Chubb got traded and Denver signed Frank Clark last summer. Neither Gregory nor Clark made it through October.

This fall, Browning got traded, too, in no small part because of the player Bonitto’s become.

The present and future of the room start with Cooper and Bonitto.

“Even when Baron was here, Nik still kind of hung back,” Wilhoite said. “When you get rid of those pieces, the Randys, the Barons, now there’s no hanging back for Nik. There’s nobody else. Now he’s free to just roll. Just go. That����ap what he feels right now. Again, it makes him now the leader.

“Him being the leader and him being conscious of his players and of his teammates, it����ap just — OK, now I really have to go. I used to have kind of a built-in excuse with the other guys, I kind of went behind them. Now? No, I’ve got to be the guy.”

Under the radar? Not for long

There aren’t many under-the-radar 14-sack seasons in the NFL.

Bonitto is tracking toward something like that.

Of course, if he finishes in that kind of territory, the accolades won’t be far behind.

This is the beauty of the season Denver’s defense has put together, though.

Every double-team of Zach Allen leaves John Franklin-Myers, Bonitto or Cooper with a one-on-one matchup.

Every time a tight end or running back chips Bonitto on a third down, it����ap less time the back end has to cover that player.

It����ap a group that ranks first in the NFL in sacks (44) and pressures (192) and is fourth in pressure rate (39.6%) despite not having household names in its front seven.

Bonitto exemplifies that.

“���’s just calm. ���’s quiet. ���’s not a loud guy, not an obnoxious guy,” Wilhoite said. “He can come in and get a lift in and probably nobody even knows he’s there. That����ap how Nik is. It����ap not that he doesn’t want to talk or he’s being rude or disrespectful, it����ap just, he’s a quiet guy and he sticks to himself.

“At the end of the day, one thing about Nik is Nik is going to watch the film, Nik is going to prepare, he’s going to study and he’s going to work hard.”

Results have followed.

The sack total will get all the attention. It will be the driving force behind an eventual contract that could exceed $20 million per year. But those flash plays are really only a byproduct of all the growth he’s shown in other facets of the game.

“It all works together,” Wilhoite said. “He won’t fly under the radar very long, but the longer he does, the better for us.”

NFL sack leaders

Fastest get-off (min. 30 pressures)

*NFL Next Gen Stats data

Balanced Broncos rush

*NFL Next Gen Stats data

(Click here to view tables in mobile.)

With the Raiders looking to drive for a game-tying score late in the fourth quarter, the third-year edge rusher pushed back left tackle Kolton Miller before knocking the ball out of backup quarterback Desmond Ridder’s hand. Malcolm Roach pounced on the fumble with 2:21 left in regulation, and the celebration was on.

Bonitto’s strip-sack helped Denver exorcise more than one demon on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium. The clutch defensive stop helped the Broncos secure a 29-19 victory — their first in Las Vegas since the Raiders moved there in 2020. It also pushed Bonitto to 10 sacks on the season, making him the first Bronco to reach that number in a single season since Von Miller (14.5 sacks) and Bradley Chubb (12) in 2018.

“It����ap crazy,” Bonitto told The Denver Post. “I never had 10 sacks in a season before.”

Throughout Bonitto’s football career, he’s been close to achieving a double-digit sack season but fell short. As a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Bonitto recorded nine sacks.

He had eight sacks as a sophomore at Oklahoma and seven during his junior campaign. In his second season with the Broncos, he was just two sacks away from reaching that goal.

This year, Bonitto would not be denied. He already had a quick get-off (time it takes for a pass rusher to cross the line of scrimmage after the snap), but he improved as a run defender, giving him more opportunities to be on the field.

Bonitto has enjoyed the fruits of his labor throughout the fall. He recorded a sack in six straight games before the streak ended in Denver’s loss at Baltimore in Week 9. Last week against the Falcons, he recorded two sacks in one of his best performances of the season.

Now that Bonitto has reached 10, his teammates want him to strive for even more.

“I hope he has 20 sacks,” inside linebacker Justin Strnad said. “Get him that bag.”

Said defensive tackle Malcolm Roach: “Nik is one of the best in the league, and he’s so nonchalant about it. The game just comes so easy to him.”

In order for Denver to complete the regular-season sweep of the Raiders, Bonitto and Denver’s defense had to increase the intensity in the second half. After Denver only had one pressure and didn’t record a sack in the first half, the Broncos finished with five sacks and 29 pressures in the final two quarters, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Every player on Denver’s front seven feasted. The Broncos had eight players with at least two pressures, with defensive end John Franklin-Myers recording a team-high six. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper had five pressures while Bonitto added two.

The Broncos sacked quarterback Gardner Minshew three times before he left on the team’s second-to-last drive with an injury.

“Their approach was different this game, threw a lot of quick passes and screens. So it was tough to get to them,” Bonitto said. “We just had to pick our spots and get after it.”

Growing up, Bonitto had always been a fan of Miller, who became one of the best edge rushers in NFL history while in Denver. Both players have been linked since Bonitto was drafted in 2022 when Denver used the second-round pick it received from the Rams in the Miller trade to take the former Oklahoma standout.

In the visiting locker room on Sunday, Bonitto once again heard his name mentioned alongside his idol.

“Just being in talks with a guy that I looked up to my whole life, that’s pretty cool,” Bonitto said.

Bo Holds Court: Bo Nix grabbed his back but not before grabbing the Raiders by the nape of the neck. When Nix found Courtland Sutton with a dart in the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter, it shoved the Broncos ahead by 10 points. It reflected his hot streak and baked-in connection with the veteran receiver. Nix has accounted for 20 touchdowns and two turnovers over the past 10 games, one of the best rookie stretches in the NFL since 2000, per the CBS broadcast. Sutton has emerged as a big reason, if not a revelation. He caught six passes for 78 yards in the third quarter alone. Sutton found his traction with Russell Wilson last season with 10 touchdowns but has become even more reliable for the rookie quarterback. He is on pace for 1,054 yards as he tries to become the franchise’s first 1,000-yard receiver since he accomplished the feat in 2019.

Isn’t that Special: For the second time in three weeks, the Broncos were haunted by special teams mistakes. Denver went under the hood and tuned up its field goal operation — and the rest of the engine began leaking oil. A 59-yard kickoff return by Dylan Laube fueled the Raiders’ first touchdown drive. Then later in the first half, Las Vegas, befitting a desperate team, executed a fake punt, completing a 34-yard pass for a first down. It led to a Raiders field goal, allowing the Raiders to keep momentum in a stadium that appeared to have more fans for the visiting team. Where have you gone, Mike Westhoff? A ����apountry turns its lonely eyes to you. On the positive side, Wil Lutz drilled five field goals.

Nik the Quick: Nik Bonitto has been compared favorably to Elvis Dumervil because of his first-step quickness and ability to dip and duck. The former Oklahoma star now has statistics to merit being mentioned in the same breath as former Broncos stars. His strip sack of Desmond Ridder with 2:28 remaining in the game not only secured the victory but made Bonitto the first Broncos player to reach double-digit sacks in a season since 2018. That year Von Miller collected 14.5, while Bradley Chubb added 12.

What’s Up Clock? The Broncos snapped their eight-game road losing streak to the Raiders, spanning two cities, but not without creating Pepto-Bismol moments. With a seven-point lead with 3:38 left, Sean Payton began a bizarre sequence of play calls. Rather than run the ball at least twice to force the Raiders to burn timeouts, Payton called three consecutive passes. Odd? Yes. And worse, they were all incomplete. So the Broncos only soaked 15 seconds off the clock and one of Nix’s attempts was nearly intercepted. It ultimately did not matter. But Payton knows his team must play a cleaner game against better teams moving forward. After Sunday, that list includes the playcaller as well.

On Sunday against the Raiders, Denver’s third-year edge rusher will need just one sack to become the first Bronco to record double-digit sacks in a single season since Von Miller and Bradley Chubb both did it in 2018. At nine sacks total, Bonitto’s tied for second-most in the league.

Head coach Sean Payton said part of the reason Bonitto has had an uptick in his numbers is because he is playing more snaps. Last season, Bonitto would come in on third-down situations to create pressure. Due to his growth as a run defender, Bonitto has had more chances to attack the quarterback.

“���’s gotten stronger,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “���’s never been a bad run defender…But he has developed the strength and mindset to be an edge setter.”

In 2023, the Broncos gave up 5.7 rushing yards per play when Bonitto was on the field and 4.4 when he was on the sideline, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Those numbers have rapidly improved in 2024. Denver has given up 3.8 yards per rush when Bonitto is on the field. He also has 18 run tackles.

Bonitto’s improvement in stopping the run has gone hand-in-hand with his impressive pass-rush numbers. He has 35 pressures and a pressure rate of 15.4% — 12th-best in the league with a minimum of 200 pass rushes, according to Next Gen Stats.

“Overall, stopping the run and playing with the lead, he’s getting more opportunities (to rush the passer),” Joseph said. “���’s always been a good rusher but the opportunities were limited in the past. He has gotten better in all phases.”

Another accolade for Nix: The awards keep on coming for Bo Nix.

The Broncos starting quarterback was named the NFL’s Rookie of the Week for the second straight time. His latest accolade comes a day after he was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, following his 307-yard and four-touchdown performance in the 38-6 win over the Falcons.

Nix is the first Bronco since Tim Tebow in 2010 to earn multiple Rookie of the Week honors in the same season, and the first since former Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno in 2009 to earn the award in back-to-back weeks.

Powers returns to practice: Broncos starting left guard Ben Powers was back on the practice field after not participating on Wednesday due to a shoulder injury.

Powers was a limited participant while wide receiver Josh Reynolds (finger), linebacker Drew Sanders (Achilles), and safeties P.J. Locke (thumb) and Brandon Jones (abdomen) practiced fully. Jones being a full participant means he could be in line to play on Sunday after missing last week’s game.

Practice squad wide receiver A.T. Perry did not participate during Thursday’s practice.