Big Question Looms for Broncos as Training Camp Approaches

The Denver Broncos' rookie class will report to training camp on July 16, followed by the veterans on July 22. From there, we're off to the 2025 races.

Let the games begin.

However, entering training camp, one big unresolved question lingers: When will the Broncos get extensions done for their key players in a contract year? And, I suppose, who's first?

It would be fun to be a fly on the wall at Broncos HQ, but if I were to make an educated guess, I'd wager that it's the team's All-Pro defensive end.

Zach Allen's Contract

According to one report, Allen is looking for upwards of $25 million per year in a new deal, and he's likely to get it. It might sound like a lot of money, but it's the going rate for an interior defender of his caliber.

Spotrac estimates Allen's market value as $22 million/year. Perhaps the Broncos will be able to meet somewhere in the middle, but it's important to get him locked up so that he can keep his mind on the task at hand and not be distracted by financial concerns.

Last season, Allen played a whopping 964 snaps, totaling career-high marks in tackles (61), sacks (8.5), and tackles for a loss (15).

Courtland Sutton's Contract

For just the second time in his career, Sutton eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark in 2024, catching passes from a rookie quarterback. That came on the heels of a season where Sutton set a new career-high in touchdown catches, hauling in 10 scores in 2023.

Spotrac estimates Sutton's market value as $26.5 million per year. The Broncos might not need to go that high to satisfy the eighth-year vet, though.

However, like Allen, the sooner Sutton's future is resolved, the better. Much is riding on Nix and the offense climbing to a new level in 2025, and he'll need his top target fully honed in.

Nik Bonitto's Contract

This situation is a bit more complex. Do the Broncos jump the gun and extend Bonitto before the season starts in order to keep the player happy and get ahead of his growing market value?

Spotrac estimates Bonitto's annual value as $23.5 million/year. None of these three extensions will come cheap, but the Broncos need to make hay while Nix is on his rookie contract, and each of these players is among the best at their respective positions, including Bonitto — based on one season.

If Denver jumps on a preseason extension, the team risks the deal blowing up in its face, as Bonitto is coming off a career showing, but the one-year-wonder concerns persist and apply to him perfectly.

Or, is the best approach to work with his agent and get the framework of a deal ironed out, and wait to see how Bonitto performs over the first quarter of the season? It might make more sense to hold off and let him prove that 2024 wasn't a flash in the pan.

That's the approach the Broncos took with Bonitto's pass-rushing partner Jonathon Cooper last year, as well as left tackle Garett Bolles. Both garnered in-season extensions.

A 2022 second-round pick, Bonitto stormed onto the NFL scene in his third year, taking over for an injured Baron Browning, who was later traded, in the starting lineup opposite Cooper. Bonitto would go on a romping run, finishing the season with a career-high 13.5 sacks and garnering Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors.

Bonitto even scored two defensive touchdowns last season, putting him in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation for a time, which ultimately went to Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II. Bonitto proved to be a potent weapon, but he isn't an edge rusher who consistently wins his one-on-one matchups to create his stats.

Bonitto is a speed rusher and it's taken him some time to build up his NFL body and add power to his game. That has rendered him relatively one-dimensional as a pass rusher, where a good chunk of his sacks are of the coverage/clean-up variety.

I'm of the opinion that Bonitto likely unlocked something in his development last year, and that the best is yet to come. But would I stake tens of millions of dollars on it before seeing him play a single snap in 2025?

I would not. And it's not even my money. I'd wait until October, and make the ultimate decision then.

If the early returns this season aren't encouraging, and the Broncos were to hold off on extending Bonitto, the franchise tag is always an option next offseason. I doubt that it comes to that, but it's something to keep in mind.

The Takeaway

This is the biggest question entering Broncos camp — these extensions. And we haven't even covered all of the starters in a contract year, like defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach, or linebacker Alex Singleton, but the trio above takes precedence.

The sooner the Broncos get these deals done, the better, and one additional benefit to doing so would be the creation of cap space, depending on how the contracts are to be structured. This situation isn't exactly the Sword of Damocles hanging over the team's head, but it's unfinished business.

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