Nik Bonitto calls self, Broncos teammates out amid Super Bowl goal

A Denver Broncos team that was a win away from playing in the Super Bowl acquired wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins earlier this offseason. As Mike Klis of 9News mentioned, however, the Broncos largely look like the same team heading into training camp. 

While speaking with Klis, pass-rusher Nik Bonitto shared somewhat of a challenge for the Broncos locker room regarding how the team can get to where it hopes to go this coming season.

Broncos feel they "could have played better in a lot of spots" last season

"If you look at it, on both sides of the ball, I feel like we could have played better in a lot of spots," Bonitto said. "I feel with the players we have coming back, the coaches we have coming back, we can only grow on those things, and we can learn a lot from last year. Where we’re winning those one-score games and just the difference where we can blow a team out, so it’s going to be good, bringing everybody back." 

One couldn't blame Bonitto and Co. if they believed they would have at least made it to Super Bowl LX had quarterback Bo Nix not suffered a broken bone in his right ankle during Denver's divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills. Instead, the New England Patriots ultimately earned a narrow 10-7 AFC Championship Game victory over a Broncos side that had to turn to backup Jarrett Stidham on that Sunday afternoon. 

"It’s a great thing when you can bring back the continuity that you had, especially with so much success that we had last year," Bonitto acknowledged. "It’s only going to help. And with the addition of Waddle, it’s going to bring so much explosiveness to the offense. He’s a great guy in the locker room, and his character, making everybody laugh. It’s been great."

Broncos are a "hungry team" after missing out on the Super Bowl

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Broncos tied for seventh among the betting favorites at +1025 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LXI. Bonitto sounds ready to get back to pursuing such a goal as soon as possible. 

"I think we’ve got a hungry team, man," Bonitto added during his comments. "Just knowing how close we were last year, and I mean, you can see it from where we stepped in for OTAs Day 1. Everybody was hitting the ground running. We’re all competing against each other. OTAs felt like fall camp practices sometimes. We’re just hungry. We want to get back to it."

The 2026 Broncos will face their first real test when they open the upcoming regular season with a "Monday Night Football" matchup at the rival Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 14.