As most Broncos starters rest, Jonathon Cooper starts and plays

DENVER — Nearly all Broncos first-teamers on offense and defense received a complete night off for Friday’s preseason finale, not even having to put on their uniform for warmups prior to the game against the Minnesota Vikings.

But that wasn’t the case for edge rusher Jonathon Cooper.

After three summer months that have been defined by his two arrests for an alleged domestic violence incident, Cooper was in the lineup and played the first two defensive series.

Few other core Broncos players took part in the game. Wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. played, but suffered a foot injury on the first possession. Troy Franklin and Luke Wattenberg both started, with the latter receiving his first preseason-game playing time this season after dealing with an injury throughout the month.

The decision to play Cooper comes within 48 hours of the cut to 53 players and within 72 hours of his Monday court date. The league has not issued any punishment for Cooper, but could opt to put him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List in the meantime. KUSA-Ch. 9’s Mike Klis reported this as a possible short-term outcome for his status.

If Cooper is on the exempt list, he would not count towards the 53-player roster — and playing him Friday night to provide a few more repetitions would make some tactical sense as far as his conditioning goes.

The Broncos are well-equipped to handle a potential Cooper absence after Que Robinson’s outstanding training camp and preseason. With Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman returning, the Broncos appear to have a trustworthy pass-rushing quartet at edge rusher, as they can supplement last year’s team sack leader, Nik Bonitto.

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