DENVER BRONCOS

Jonathon Cooper is the epitome of how the Broncos want to build their team

Nov 8, 2024, 1:31 AM

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Jonathon Cooper is part of the best-case scenario for how the Denver Broncos want to build their team: with draft picks who prove worthy of long-term contract investments.

It’s been something largely missing from the Broncos in recent years. Until July, the Broncos had signed just three players the 2013-20 draft classes to long-term extensions — at least three years or more. With Cooper joining Quinn Meinerz and Pat Surtain II in signing extensions, the Broncos have as many extensions of three-plus years from the 2021 draft class as from the previous eight.

The lack of re-signings for several years is part of why the Broncos have endured seven-consecutive losing seasons. But the 2021 draft class is a significant reason why the team has a chance to snap that streak — and why, from a big-picture perspective, the Broncos appear headed in the right direction.

“I think in this league that’s the way you have to build your team. You have to draft, develop and re-sign. So, watching Pat and Coop re-sign, that’s the way you do it,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said.

Of course, the circumstances regarding Jonathon Cooper being a seventh-round pick were unusual, given the heart condition that necessitated three procedures in the month after he was drafted. The concerns about his health led him to fall in the draft.

“That was a tough process with the draft process and everything like that,” Cooper said. “I’m sure without that medical flag, I probably would have went a little bit higher. But honestly, it all worked out the way it was supposed to. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity than to come here and to get that call from George [Paton]. It was just awesome.

“Even looking back at that, it all worked out the way it was supposed to, so, really not upset or mad about it.”

As early as the 2021 preseason, Cooper made an impression. Bit by bit, he built on it to where he not only stands as a core starter on the defense, but one of its leaders, too.

“Nobody deserves it more than him,” his fellow starting edge rusher, Nik Bonitto. You talk about a guy that comes in every day and works hard and does the right things every day and play as hard as he does, he definitely deserved it.”

Now, it’s a matter of continuing to deserve a contract that includes $33 million in guarantees.

“I feel like that just humbles me to know that my work that I have to push forward has to be better,” Cooper said. “And I know that I can be better and play better. I just feel like that’s where my mindset is: How can I even exceed this? How can I show my appreciation out there on that field.

“The fact that they believe in me — my teammates — just makes for [that] I don’t ever want to let them down. I know that moving forward and stuff, I’m just gonna keep working and keep going. Just happy that they believe in me.”

But it’s not just believing in Cooper. It’s believing in a process that after fits, starts, dead-ends and shaky trades, is starting to bear fruit.

Jonathon Cooper: The process of re-signing with the Broncos was “pretty quick & easy & simple. … I feel like I didn’t need to take it any further [in negotiations] than what it was because I love this program, I love this team, I love the organization.”

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— Andrew Mason (@masedenver.bsky.social) November 7, 2024 at 10:54 AM

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Jonathon Cooper is the epitome of how the Broncos want to build their team