Broncos edge rusher Cooper headed for commissioner’s exempt list

The Broncos will have to make do without edge rusher Jonathon Cooper for an undetermined amount of time.

Cooper will start the regular season on the Commissioner’s Exempt List in the wake of his two arrests and multiple charges in connection with an alleged early June domestic-violence incident. KUSA-Ch. 9’s Mike Klis was first to report the move on social media.

The sixth-year edge rusher has a Monday morning court date in Douglas County connected with the four charges against him, which include a felony second-degree assault by strangulation allegation.

Cooper cannot practice while on the list. He will also not count against the 53-player roster, which in the short term will give the Broncos one extra spot to use when they make their cuts to 53 players in advance of Sunday’s 4 p.m. MDT roster deadline.

The move to the exempt list comes as no surprise after Cooper was the only expected Broncos starter on offense or defense who did not deal with a camp injury to play in Friday night’s preseason finale. Center Luke Wattenberg also took part in the game, but he missed the first two preseason games due to injury.

Cooper took part in 40 days of in-patient therapy in June and July prior to reporting for training camp.

“We’re staying course with league protocol, club protocol, relative to what we’re advised to do,” Payton said. “He’s been fantastic working away from the building, and we’ll continue to do that, and monitor it. We’re supportive — and yet very much aware of the seriousness of these types of things.”

FROM A FOOTBALL PERSPECTIVE, BRONCOS ARE IN GOOD SHAPE WITHOUT COOPER

That’s because Que Robinson has emerged as a viable rotational edge rusher. A fourth-round pick last season, Robinson was inactive for 12 games last year — 11 in the regular season and the divisional-round win over Buffalo. But he broke through with a sack of New England quarterback Drake Maye in the AFC Championship Game loss, and the desire to get him more playing time was a part of the reason why the Broncos tinkered with the notion of giving Jonah Elliss some repetitions at inside linebacker.

Elliss is now in line to start with Cooper sidelined. He has 7.5 sacks and 11 total quarterback hits over 33 games — including postseason — in his two-season career.

Robinson will likely tandem with Dondrea Tillman as the rotational edges behind Elliss and Nik Bonitto in the short term. Tillman has nine sacks and 16 total quarterback hits over his 32 total games played since working his way into the mix early in the 2024 season. He also developed a knack for making plays on the ball in coverage last year, with two interceptions — each of which had a return of at least 23 yards.

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